Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
by Hollowed Shame
Summary: Two years after the game; Cloud has chosen to isolate himself after everyone went their seperate ways. Now, three mysterious men are attempting to drive the world into oblivion once more. AU, centers around Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz. My first fic. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of its characters.  
  
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children  
  
The Lifestream... A place of peace and renewal. The precious mako flowing through it, mending The Planet; yet at the same time aiding human kind by giving them the power to scar its ancient body. The souls of the dead, drawn here after death reside in this place, living on as being one with The Planet itself.  
  
The Planet is being restored, and the Calamity from the Skies brought down. The Lifestream continues to mend The Planet, acting as blood and forming the scabs on its wounds that would soon become scars. Scars that would forever remind humanity of what had happened. Yet there were more scars to come...  
  
Midgar had been in ruins for two years now, and not many chose to live there. What was left of the once great city, was now unstable from Meteor's collision.  
  
A lone blonde haired figure chose this time to walk through the great mass of rubble, furthering himself from the people he had cared for. From those who had aided him in the battle two years ago.  
  
Unsure of what he had done then had been the right thing; Cloud had chosen to seclude himself from almost everyone and everything. He often wandered the ruins of Midgar, as if he was searching for someone, or something... But he couldn't remember who or what. He had since decided upon living with a small group of orphaned children, along with Tifa. The children's parents had been killed following Meteor's collision, and they were now under the two's care.  
  
Clad all in a black version of what he had worn what seemed so long ago, Cloud wandered into the church that had belonged to Aeris. Cloud knew that if he hadn't found what he had been searching for, he could at least find himself a sanctuary here. He made his was past the dirt patch on the floor that had once been the garden, casting it a quick glance. Now, the whole church had seemingly become a garden, with vines and plants growing everywhere. He stopped and smiled sadly; Aeris would have loved the way the flowers blossomed like that.  
  
Continuing from there, he made his way up to the altar, kneeled down and stared up at the ceiling. He thought of Aeris' last moments as Sephiroth descended on her. Of Barrett, Vincent, Cid, Yuffie, and Nanaki, all of which he hadn't seen in the past two years.  
  
Barrett had made off to go and live with his 'daughter' Marlene, and tried his hardest to give the child a happy life. Yuffie had returned to Wutai to take on her rightful place as ruler, while Nanaki had gone to wander the wilderness of the planet in search of his kind. Cid returned to Shera and Vincent had strode off to heaven knows where. And that was the last of what he could remember of them since they parted their separate ways.  
  
He thought about Sephiroth and how he had met his demise by Cloud's hands. The man had never truly been evil, but in his insanity, and with JENOVA inside him, there was no choice but to bring him to an end. Though it saddened Cloud, it was the only way to defend The Planet... but he soon became unsure of it. He was angry with himself for bringing death to someone who truly hadn't been the enemy. He hung his head in sadness.  
  
"I think... I just want to be forgiven..." a single tear streamed down the side of his face. "Yes... I want to be forgiven." Cloud said this softly while thinking about the death of the one he had once idolized.  
  
"Cloud..." a voice spoke.  
  
He looked up in shock, slightly startled by the familiar sound of the voice. It was faint though, and the person sounded weak.  
  
"Perhaps I'm hearing voices again..." Cloud shook his head slightly, but he heard it again, a little louder this time. The person sounded like they were in a great deal of pain.  
  
" Cloud... Come... To me..."  
  
That voice. It sounded so familiar. It continued to faintly cry his name, and he followed it, to what was left of the upper part of the church.  
  
"Who's there?" Cloud was looking around for the source of the voice, and his gaze fell over to a white sheet. The voice was being emitted from the sheet and he made his way over.  
  
"Cloud..." the person under it managed to choke. The blonde noticed this person was seated in an old looking wheelchair.  
  
"Who are you?" Cloud reached for the sheet, but the figure-to his surprise- cringed back from his hand.  
  
"Not to be revealed... yet..." it whispered.  
  
Cloud looked emotionless for a few moments, then he glared coldly at the person.  
  
"What is it that you have brought me here for?"  
  
"I... have brought you here to inform you... of danger... I wish to help you."  
  
At this, Cloud almost laughed. How did this person expect to help him, in their condition? And who were they?  
  
"Help me how? There's nothing more to fear in this world... I've seen it all... I've experienced everything... I even... destroyed the Great Sephiroth..."  
  
"Cloud... It will make more sense... In the minutes to come..." at this the figure slowly got to its feet. The sheet fell from its body.  
  
Gasping, and taking a step back, Cloud stared at the person. He was dressed in black, with a long trench coat. His silver hair cascaded to about the back of his knees, and the black he wore made the paleness of his skin and hair stand out even more.  
  
"Sephiroth...?" Cloud stepped back a few more steps.  
  
"Soon..." Sephiroth said softly, and his right half began to glow a brilliant blue-green colour. The entire area of what Cloud could see was engulfed in this colour, as was his left half. He watched with a look of confusion, as the glowing halves of the two of them seemed to split into fragments and switched bodies. Sephiroth's body remained the same, but he looked... empty? The ex-general collapsed into the wheelchair and Cloud felt a tingly feeling in his left side. He looked down on that side and saw his clothing had been replaced with a black trench coat, and he now had a sleeve over that arm. His armour had become smooth and black and now had a carving of a wolf biting a metal ring.  
  
A sharp pain flew through his mind, as though something was invading. He grasped his temples and cried out. After about five minutes of excruciating pain, Cloud felt a presence in his mind.  
  
' And so it begins...' Sephiroth said in his head, and Cloud involuntarily lifted his left arm. He looked at it for a moment, of course not noticing the cat-like pupil that had formed in his left eye. His hand flexed into a fist and his arm returned to his side. ' We have become one...'  
  
A/N: Meh. This is my first story... It's pretty crappy, but oh well. Hope you liked it. I'll try and update it as fast as possible. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

The sunlight was dim over the ruined landscape that was Midgar. Cloud exited the church and stepped into the pale light, as Sephiroth's voice emerged from his mind once more.

' There.' He lifted Cloud's left arm and gestured toward a cliff that overlooked Midgar. ' I sense them.'

"Sense who?!" Cloud cried aloud, angered at the voice inside of his head. He was still in a state of bewilderment that he and Sephiroth were now one entity.

' Never mind for now. She will call soon. It's best if you go.' The presence in his mind immediately settled, giving him control over his left side just in time for his PHS to ring.

Picking up the small device, and pressing a button he answered. "Hello?"

"Cloud? It's Tifa. You should head back now, the orphans and I were getting worried..." Her voice stated on the other end, a bit muffled by the static from the device.

" Alright... I'll be home soon Tifa..." he said monotonously, " See you soon." And without giving her the chance to respond, he shut the PHS off.

' Rather abrupt way to end a conversation.' Sephiroth spoke inside his head.

"I don't understand. Why is all of this happening?"

' Soon Cloud, all of this will make sense.'

"How so?"

Without warning, the ex-general in his mind changed subjects. ' I hear you have been living with the orphans...'

"And?"

' Wouldn't you like to give those children a reason to smile again?'

Cloud stopped for a moment and thought to himself. Why was Sephiroth suddenly acting so... humane? Had he truly been relieved of JENOVA?

' You and I are alike in thoughts at the moment. Our ultimate goal is the reconstruction of the world, Cloud.' He could feel Sephiroth smiling softly in his mind.

"How would you know what my goals are and aren't? You shouldn't know anything! You're DEAD!"

' And that is where you were mistaken. You thought I had died back in the Northern Crater, when in reality; all you did was scatter JENOVA's pieces when she was thrown into the Life Stream. I didn't die then Cloud. The Planet wouldn't allow that. Instead I was given life again, and put back to fulfill my purpose. JENOVA- Mother- is far from done working her evil. Soon you will encounter those whom she has enslaved... And I was put back here to merge with you, giving you the power to stop them...' He felt the man gently smirk, ' And I am one with your body and your thoughts... I know what you're thinking and what you feel. This is how I know deep down your true intentions."

" Whatever... Just stay out of my thoughts..." Cloud growled, and walked for what seemed like hours until he reached his motorcycle. The voice of the man in his body didn't speak with him anymore during that time, and he was glad. He really did need some time to think about what had just happened, and what might happen. As he started the engine and roared off toward his 'home', he was deep in thought, and oblivious to the three silver haired figures watching him from atop the cliff Sephiroth had gestured to earlier.

The three of them sat on motorcycles and watched intently as their prey rode off. The middle one spoke up, in a voice laced with venom.

"Cloud Strife..." His cat-like pupils narrowed to mere slits as he glared. With a smirk, his hand wandered to the hilt of his double bladed sword Souba. He, like the other two, was dressed in black leather. His clothes were tight fitting, and he wore armour similar to Sephiroth's, only black in colour. He had messy, silver hair that fell unevenly to his shoulders and his glowing mako-coloured eyes reflected his cruel nature.

"So... That was him? Seems like he's a whack job... With the whole talkin' to himself thing going on..." The one on the right spoke in a low, grumbly voice. He wore tight fitting leather clothing like the first; only it was slightly more open and revealing around his chest. He also had on the same armour as the other two figures beside him. His silver hair was short, and slicked back in a careless way. The yellow-green orbs that were his eyes had snake-like pupils in them, but although he seemed tough in appearance, his eyes showed that he held a great deal of emotion. His one arm had a metal weapon-like contraption on it that he called the Dual Hound, and at his side he had a simple gun blade strapped to him.

The third one stayed silent as he stared at the moving vehicle his victim was escaping on. He was clad in black like the other two, but instead of wearing just a leather suit like them he wore a long trench coat. The neck of the article came up snugly to his face like a turtleneck and his face was partially covered by the long silver hair that fell into it. The eyes of this man were somewhat different, they glowed with mako like his comrades, but they didn't seem to stay the same colour. Which was just as well, because the only way one could reflect his feelings from his emotionless form was through their colour. Right now they were bright green, and the pupils were narrowed to angry cat-like slits as he reached for the Velvet Nightmare at his side, a gun blade that he took preference to using.

The first figure spoke again. "Not now Yazoo." He raised his hand and touched the hand of the third.

With a low growl, Yazoo lowered his hand from his weapon. "Why not just kill him now, Kadaj?" he questioned in a soft emotionless voice as his eyes shifted from green to yellow, and his pupils became small and round as he calmed.

" Because it's not time." Kadaj glared at his companion.

"I don't understand. When can we fight him?" the shorter haired man, obviously the oldest whined slightly.

"Don't worry Loz. We will fight him soon enough. And then he will pay for what he has done. He betrayed us..." A smirk crept over younger man's face. He faced Yazoo and then Loz before starting the engine of his motorcycle. "For now, we will follow him. I prefer to toy with my targets, rather than flat out kill them. Now let us be off, my brothers."

Loz nodded and started his vehicles engine. Yazoo gave his leader a questioning look as his motorbike roared to life, and he shot back a look that answered.

The three predators tore off in the direction off their prey, and they soon disappeared into the horizon as he had.

A/N: Well there's the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. More will follow soon, not that many people want it to come, I'm sure.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of its characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Most of the ride home was peaceful, aside from a few bumps in the dirt path. He was now almost 'home', and was travelling through a dark, forested area. Something, noise from behind him, alarmed him, and he braked to a sudden halt, spinning to see what was there.

The noise grew louder, as three silver haired figures came closer on their motorbikes. Cloud narrowed his eyes as Sephiroth's voice in his mind came to life.

' Them... It's them...' He snarled.

Cloud studied his so-called opponents. The one on the left seemed to stare past him, his face completely emotionless. The man on the right grinned at him with a look of malice, whilst the middle one wore a smirk. His look was one Cloud definitely did not like. The three men slowed to a halt, a good hundred feet away from him.

"Who are these people?" Cloud questioned aloud the voice in his head. He felt Sephiroth mentally shrug.

' I am unsure, but I am certain these are the ones I was sent to aid you in defeating.'

The blonde watched as the men dismounted their bikes, and began slowly walking toward him. They stopped suddenly and the middle one gestured oddly to the other two. As if commanded, both reached for their gun blades and began shooting.

Instantly, Cloud hit the gas on hit bike, swerving on the dirt path as he made his way closer. He hit a button on the dash of his motorcycle and the sides of it opened up, revealing all of his swords he had collected two years ago. He grabbed his buster blade, and drove faster at his enemies, avoiding their fire. Once he came close enough, he hit the brakes, jumped off and began to run their way.

The middle one gestured at the one on the right, and he ran for Cloud with a vicious grin on his face.

"Time for you to taste pain, Strife!" The short haired man threw a punch at his with his mechanical arm, which Cloud narrowly dodged.

Cloud swung at him with all his might, but the guy just punched the blade back. Cloud gave him a look of shock, and stalled just long enough for his opponent to land a hard blow to his stomach, knocking him flying into a tree. As Cloud dragged down the barky surface, the man that had been on the left turned.

"Die..." He growled, his eyes changing from yellow, to green and cat-like. He fire three shots at his victim.

Cloud's eyes widened, as Sephiroth took over and lifted his left arm and sword up to block the bullets just in time.

' You'll need to be on better guard than that, if you plan on coming out of this alive!' He yelled in his mind. Cloud cringed slightly at the thought of bullets piercing his flesh, but was taken out of his thoughts by a clang of metal on his sword.

The man with shoulder length silver hair was smirking at him. Cloud quickly got to his feet, the ex-general still in control of his left side. He quickly dodged a violent sword slash from the man, and swung his buster blade to counter. The double bladed sword of his enemy was thrust upward and his sword was stuck in between the blades. Cloud tried with all his might to break his weapon free of the blades, and looked up at his opponent. To his horror, the guy looked calm, and was effortlessly using one hand to fend off his attacks. The blonde tore his buster sword free with everything he had, and panted slightly. His enemy smirked, and sheathed his sword.

"You will die Cloud Strife, but for now... We shall let you live..." He further narrowed his eyes, and laughed arrogantly.

"Who are you people?" Cloud asked, between breaths.

"My name is Kadaj." He said coldly, playing with a strand of his hair. "And they are Yazoo and Loz... My older brothers." He gestured to the two men as he said their names.

"What do you want with me?!" he was beginning to grow angry with Kadaj, and he was sneering at him.

"We want revenge on you... My brothers and I have no time to waste... In time, we will kill you, revive JENOVA, and put a stop to the pathetic humans scurrying on this planets surface! Farewell, my enemy!" Kadaj nodded at Yazoo and Loz. The two nodded back as Loz and Kadaj dashed right away towards their vehicles. Yazoo stopped and looked at Cloud with his glowing yellow orbs.

Cloud noticed an uncanny resemblance to Sephiroth in this one, and then finally realized how they all resembled the ex-general in his mind. He could feel the entity in his mind glowering at Yazoo.

Yazoo continued to stare at Cloud, glaring as if he knew Sephiroth was there. He snarled and his eyes flashed green, and he dashed off to join the other two. The three leapt on their bikes, and rode off in the opposite direction, back towards the ruins.

' We should hurry back now Cloud. We have kept Tifa waiting, and we don't want to let them find you again. Let's go, and we will figure out something from there.' Cloud nodded his head and took off on his bike, sticking his sword back in its slot and closing the compartments. He picked up speed rapidly and headed back for Tifa and the orphans once again.

Kadaj and his companions had made their way back to their hideout. They had set up camp in small clearing in the forested area outside of Midgar. The leader sighed slightly as he used a fire material to relight their dead fire in the middle of the clearing.

"So... We know where JENOVA's head is...If we get that now, isn't that all we need?" Loz was the first to break the hour-long silence that had befallen them.

"It is. Unfortunately, we still have to take Cloud's life before our real purpose comes into action." Kadaj's pupils narrowed to slits, and folded his arms across his chest as he sat down with his brothers.

"Then why did we not just get it over with?" Yazoo asked coldly.

" Because. I'm not finished with him! I've told you that already you moron!" The youngest of the three snapped at his second oldest sibling, who seemed unfazed, but Kadaj could see his eyes turn a deep purple, signalling a slight sadness.

"I was just asking..." he muttered, wondering what his brother's problem was. He had been acting strange lately, and had just a few weeks ago burst out with the idea that their life quest was to destroy this 'Cloud Strife'.

"Shut up. You never talk, so keep it that way." Kadaj glowered at him angrily, and Yazoo did as he was told for once, which satisfied him. Normally, making his older sibling oblige was difficult, since he had a nature that said he could do whatever the hell he wanted. This time, he just rose, and walked over to their supplies. He pulled out a sleeping mat and stretched it out in a spot far away from the other two. He lay down, facing away from them, and ignored their conversation. Pretty soon, he was asleep.

" What's his problem?" Kadaj interrupted the current subject and gestured toward Yazoo.

"Well, you are pretty mean to him." Loz admitted, cowering slightly at how his accusation might anger his leader.

Kadaj glared at Loz, but then his expression changed to calm. "I suppose you're right. I have been a little... childish lately. I will apologize when he feels like talking again."

"I'm gonna get some rest now, okay?" The older of the two said after yawing.

" Alright. I'm kind of tired myself. I'll take first watch for an hour or so. Then you can take watch and when you're done wake him up."

Loz nodded and did the same as Yazoo had. Kadaj just smirked after he had fallen asleep.

' They don't even suspect what I'm using them for...' He thought while laughing to him self, and he raised his hand, watching the blue energy crackle from fingertip to fingertip. He smirked even more as he felt the presence of JENOVA in him laugh as well.

A/N: Thanks to those who have reviewed so far! I'm glad people are enjoying this! Hope this chapter was just as good...


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

The dying fire crackled slightly, and sent an ember sparkling at a half-sleeping Loz. He jolted awake, and poked a bit at the small flames with a stick in a bored fashion. Then, yawning, decided he would wake Yazoo for his watch.

"Hey... Hey wake up..." He shook his brother roughly.

"I'm awake you idiot."

Loz looked over his brother and their eyes met, one with a look of stupidity, the other with a look of mild annoyance. "Sorry."

" Whatever. Get some more sleep." Yazoo rose coldly and walked over to the fire, and seemed to neglect the fact that Loz was even alive.

"Hey man, what's your problem?" He ran his hand over the Dual Hound, and grunted at his sibling.

The man in the trench coat said nothing and proceeded to re-ignite the fire to his satisfaction.

"Yeah well good night to you to." Loz rolled over onto his sleeping mat and tried to go back to sleep, ignoring the growl he got from Yazoo in the process. He was fast asleep within minutes.

Yazoo turned and stared at the two, and then decided to get up and leave. He was just about to walk off into the trees when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kadaj glared at him. Yazoo glared at him harder but said nothing. "I asked you a question now ans..." Yazoo answered him with a punch in the jaw, eyes flashing green.

"Fuck you." He turned on his heel, and stormed off..

"I don't THINK SO!" Kadaj roared at him, grabbing his sword and pinning his elder brother on the ground. He held the blade to his throat. "I'm sick of your damned attitude! Now do as I say or I'll KILL you!"

His victim remained calm, and retained a bored expression, as if the fact that two razor sharp steel blades were at his throat was nothing. " Kill me. I really don't care."

"I told you earlier not to talk..."

"Too late." Kadaj growled but was met with a sharp kick to his abdomen. Out of reflex, he grasped his stomach and rolled off.

"You bastard..."

Yazoo smirked and dashed over to his vehicle. "I'll put an end to this 'Cloud Strife' myself, without your orders." He started the engine, the commotion from it waking Loz up, and drove off recklessly, firing a few shots from his gun blade at Kadaj, with the intention of missing.

" Should we go after him?" The shorter haired man asked while watching his brother drive out of there like a bat out of hell.

"No. We'll meet him sooner or later, and then we'll kill him along with Cloud." Putting his sword down, Kadaj glared in the direction Yazoo had took off in, and smirked. "Yes, this means death for you my dear brother..."

"Huh?"

" Nothing. I wasn't talking to you."

"Oh..." Loz shrugged slightly.

' Death to both of them soon...' JENOVA said inside Kadaj's mind. He laughed a little.

' Of course. But I'm not done with them... Or else Yazoo would be dead.' He answered back to the parasite.

' It doesn't matter... All that matters is that you kill Strife and gain revenge for your dear brother and myself... Sephiroth would be most pleased if you were to destroy him... He told me himself from the Life Stream how vengeful he is.' JENOVA whispered.

' Cloud and all of his comrades will pay for what they did to you Mother... And for what he did to Sephiroth... I promise.'

"Kadaj, are you ok? You look completely off in another world..."

"I'm fine." He muttered.

Both men decided to remain the rest of the night awake, although neither said a word to the other.

Cloud had made it home safely. Tifa was there to greet him, and she ran up and hugged him happily.

"I'm glad you're all right... There's been word of a terrorist group consisting of three silver haired men. No one knows who they are, but they've apparently been causing a lot of trouble."

Cloud's eyes narrowed. "Their names are Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz. I had a run in with them on the way here, so that's why I'm late."

"They let you live?" A familiar, dark tone spoke up. Vincent stepped over to Cloud, causing any of the children around him to scatter in fear.

"Hey Vincent... Long time no see... And yes, they let me live..."

' Obviously. It was a rhetorical question.' Sephiroth said sarcastically inside of him.

' Shut up.' Cloud thought back, as yet another question arose.

"What did they so to you?" Tifa questioned him, a look of worry passing over her face.

"They attacked... And then they took off." He shrugged at her. " That's really all there was to it."

"I see..." she responded.

"I think we need to call up everyone. This really is serious Cloud. They have been terrorizing people, and yapping on about 'GeoStigma', and 'JENOVA reunion'. We should round up everyone and find out what they are up to..." Vincent spoke, everyone nodded. The three flipped out their PHS devices, and began calling everyone up.

Outside of the small, cottage like home, a few children were playing with one another in a sandbox. They were some of the orphans that had been left from the destruction of Midgar, and they depended on Cloud and Tifa like their parents.

The four children were making small sand castle, and laughing happily. They were having fun, which was a rarity for them, since they had all lost their parents and didn't have much to play with. They were oblivious to the tall shadow that loomed over them, and none of them looked up.

The tall, silver haired man smirked, drew his gun blade and pointed it right at one of the children. He was about to pull the trigger, but he stopped. What was the point in killing the child?

He attached the gun blade to its proper place at his side, and knelt down.

"Why do you play in the dirt like that?" He asked, a look of curiosity on his face.

All of the children turned. Two of them gasped and backed up in fear, one cowered and hid his face, while the other one- a little girl- stared at the man in disbelief.

"Leave us alone! Go away Sephiroth!" She threw sand in his face, and shrieked as his gun blade was pointed at her face quicker than lightning.

"Don't make him mad! That man has a gun!" A little boy cried.

"Too late! He'll kill us!" The four of them backed away, as the snarling cat-eyed man stood there, one hand pointing his gun blade, the other holding his right eye.

Yazoo then smirked as he saw Cloud with his buster blade; Tifa and Vincent come out of the cottage almost as quick as he had drawn his gun. The three of them stared at the cause of the commotion, and Cloud flew at him with his sword.

Gracefully, Yazoo jumped back from the heavy blade before it could slice his body in half. He fired a few shots at Cloud, and laughed as Tifa ducked from the bullets that narrowly missed her. Vincent shot his own gun at him, and managed to snag his shoulder with one of his own bullets.

The children shrieked and ran behind Tifa, as Yazoo grasped the wound. He was about to fire again, but Tifa's scream stopped him.

"Stop it! If you are going to fight, do it away from the children!" She was almost in tears. "In fact it's best if you just stop it all together! I don't know who you are, but you have no reason to try and wreak so much havoc on everyone! Why do you want to kill Cloud?"

"I have my reasons, and they are none of your concern. I respect your request, woman. Come on Cloud! Let's carry this on else where!" He laughed at him.

" Vincent, Tifa stay here and take care of them. Let's go you scum!" Cloud jumped on his bike and Yazoo did the same. The two drove off as fast as possible toward the broken down highway by Midgar.

The silver haired man broke the peace first by roaring ahead of Cloud and swerving sharply to cut in front of him. He grabbed the Velvet Nightmare and fired twice at Cloud's tires. Luckily, Cloud was just fast enough- thanks to Sephiroth using his left arm to swerve away from the bullets- and he put his sword in from of him, charging head on at Yazoo. The man held his gun blade out with a single hand and pushed the buster sword back.

"It's useless." He muttered at the blonde.

"Shut up! I can't believe you would pick a fight with me in front of those little children!"

"Who cares for them?!" He gave a taunting shove to Cloud's sword with his gun blade.

"I do! You three certainly don't seem to give a damn for much, do you?!" Cloud pushed back harder.

"Why care for children? Why protect them? It's your life that's in danger! Why not defend yourself?!"

"Shut up and DIE!" The blondes fist connected with Yazoo's face, and he jammed the buster sword into his enemy's front tire.

Yazoo gave him a look of shock as he lost control of his vehicle and was sent smashing into the wreckage of a building that had once stood tall along the side of the highway.

Cloud looked back at him and then looked forward just in time to see Kadaj standing there smirking at him ahead.

Tifa got lucky since Cid happened to be close by. He had whipped over there with the Highwind and she got him to take her to Midgar in search of Cloud. Vincent stayed behind with the children on her request, and stood there watching as the Highwind took to the skies, and flew off toward the once great city's rubble. She thanked him quickly and dashed off the airship almost immediately after it landed and took off toward the old church, where she thought Cloud might be near.

Upon walking in the doorway, she wasn't greeted by the battle of Cloud and the strange man, but with another strange silver haired man. His Dual Hound pounded against his other hands palm.

"I've been waiting Tifa. Time to die."

She gasped in shock as he ran towards her, not knowing what to do.

A/N: Well that's the next chapter... Hope you enjoyed it, though I'm not to sure that one was any good, since I'm tired, and hungry. Ah well. R&R!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of its characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Out of instinct, and in a flurry of blind defensive movements, she charged for him, throwing several punches. He dodged every one of her blows, and half-heartedly threw a few of his own. Tifa could tell that the man was hardly trying, and that if he had wanted; he could've easily struck her down then and there.

Remembering her training, she punched him square in the face and aimed the next few blows for his chest. She struck sending him back a bit, and then she made her biggest mistake.

She did a roundhouse kick straight for his head and he grabbed her leg in the process. He smirked and laughed arrogantly as he swung her around several times before launching her at the church's altar. Time seemed to slow down, and just enough for her to figure out how to absorb the attack. She stretched her one leg out, and tucked her other in, steadying the impact with her hand. She seemed frozen in time and the force of the throw caused flower petals everywhere to fly up. She lifted her head slowly to meet his sneering gaze.

He smirked again, and her eyes clouded over with tears as she realized how much pain she was in, and how hopeless this fight was in her case.

"Give up yet, woman?" Loz laughed at her.

" You're... a monster..." She fell to the broken, wooden floor of the church. Just before she made impact, Tifa noticed that she was going to smash into a jagged board of wood and that it was likely to impale her. She braced herself and...

Nothing. She felt that her body was in someone's arms and her gaze met Loz's. For a second she thought that just maybe he had the ghost of decency in him, but he simply tossed her into the dirt of the garden.

"Can't have you dying, now can we? Cloud can find you here and snivel over your broken leg later."

Tifa listened to his words, and then tried to move her left leg. There was no movement, just sheer pain. He was right, her leg WAS broken.

"I think I'll get back to my brothers. You should be just fine here. The children on the other hand, should be falling pleasantly ill now. GeoStigma spreads fast through them. Ah well, you'll know soon enough. Farewell, Tifa Lockheart. It's been a pleasure." He pressed his hand to his lips, and blew her a kiss before snorting a laugh and leaving her there.

Tifa just began to cry softly. She managed to choke out Cloud's name before falling unconscious.

----------------------

Cloud raced toward Kadaj at full speed. Kadaj looked up and smiled menacingly at him before raising his glowing blue hand. With a sudden wave of his hand, he sent dozens of blue, laser-like beams soaring at Cloud.

The blonde knew it must've been intentional for the beams to crash into the ground behind him, because it exploded so both he and the motor cycle flew straight towards the smirking man. Cloud held out the buster blade with one hand at him and Kadaj jumped up into the air to clash swords with him. The collision of the steel sent Cloud and his bike hurtling into the cracked pavement below. In a single swift movement, he jumped off it, just before it slammed into a pile of rubble and exploded violently.

Kadaj flew at him with a speed that more than rivalled his own. He swung viciously at him, with the intent of contact. Cloud held his blade up and used all of his might to hold off the surprisingly immense strength of his opponent. His enemy flung him back, and swung again. This time, however, Sephiroth took over and- with the combined strength of both himself and Cloud- overpowered him. Kadaj was sent flying backwards at the pavement but flipped gracefully, landing cat-like. His green eyes flashed dangerously.

"Pretty good." He commented, flying at Cloud once more, and with a violent swing he disarmed the blonde. "Not good enough. Now you're done." He lashed out once more, but was caught off guard as Cloud parried his attack with another sword that he had concealed in the trench coat half of his outfit.

Kadaj yelped in shock at being disarmed himself, and then he got angry. He glared at Cloud with and incredible intensity.

"What's the matter, gonna cry?" Cloud taunted the younger man.

His opponents face twisted into a hideous smirk. "No. But you are." His hand glowed blue once more, and his eyes glowed turned hollow and black looking, with the exception that the iris part turned silver. He charged the energy for a few seconds and launched it at the sky. Cloud gasped as he saw the rune like flashes in the sky and instantly knew what was coming.

The great dragon launched itself from the clouds as they parted and flew at the two, his mouth open. A massive amount of energy built up and he unleashed a ray of fiery destruction straight for Cloud.

' Bahamut...' Sephiroth said calmly in his mind. ' No matter. But brace yourself Cloud. Tifa is in danger right now, and this is also going to take a lot out of you since I will be using your physical energy...' Cloud felt his entire mind being engulfed by Sephiroth's and everything went white...

Kadaj laughed as the ray of fire tore at the ground and engulfed his enemy. But he lost his cockiness when the he saw the white light. He knew Cloud had somehow teleported out of his precious summons attack, and it quite frankly pissed him off.

"So you got away again. That's alright. Soon I will kill you, Cloud. Kill you for what you did to Mother and Sephiroth..." He said aloud while retrieving Souba from the ground.

JENOVA smiled in Kadaj's mind. He assumed she smiled because he was doing as she and Sephiroth willed. And he was half right. She also smiled because of how gullible and naïve he was. She laughed in his mind, but not with him at the massive crater Bahamut's attack had created, but at the monster she had wrought him into. JENOVA had managed to deceive and manipulate another person's mind, and the thought of Cloud's demise pleased her greatly.

---------------

Yazoo burst through the concrete wall of the building he had been trapped in, emerging in a full-blown rage, eyes red with the pupils of a snake. He snarled at nothing in particular and flung his fist as hard as possible at a concrete block, sending bits of it flying everywhere.

"Temper, temper..." The voice of his younger brother taunted from behind him.

Yazoo whirled around and glared down at him. "Calm yourself, brother, or I will have to dispose of you."

The longer haired man didn't say anything. His eyes remained red, and he simply walked away from Kadaj.

"Go then. Join them. You're of no use to me anymore, Yazoo." Kadaj said coldly.

Yazoo still said nothing and he walked away from his younger sibling like he didn't even exist. He and Kadaj both walked away in opposite directions, as if they had never even spoken or acknowledged one another in the first place.

The older of the two stopped and thought for a moment. Maybe he would join Cloud. Whether it want a want to oppose his brother, or his complete disagreement with Kadaj in the first place that motivated him, Yazoo now felt as if he wanted to help Cloud. He turned around, knowing that Cloud was in Midgar and that was the other way. He dashed as fast as he could, almost becoming a blur, and rushed past Kadaj.

The younger man smirked. "You have no idea what you are." He whispered softly. "You don't even know that you aren't my brother..." Kadaj mounted his motorcycle and sped off the in the same relative direction, but instead just headed back to their camp.

A/N: Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. R&R!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Cloud woke up on the floor of Aeris' church. He groggily sat up and looked around to figure out what happened.

' Where am I?' He thought. ' How did I get here?'

' You still have just as bad of a memory as ever. I teleported you here before Bahamut struck. You had better get up; Tifa is over there and she looks injured.' Sephiroth explained, before retreating into the depths of Cloud's mind.

At the thought of this, Cloud bolted upright, but almost lost him balance. He realized how weak he was from Sephiroth using his energy to teleport, and just about fell over. But as soon as he saw Tifa, he forgot about his tiredness. He strode over to the garden quickly, and slipped his arms under her delicate form.

"Are you alright?" Cloud whispered softly to her, his expression full of worry.

" Cl...oud?" Tifa choked at him. "Cloud... Is that you?"

"I'm here Tifa..."

"A man... With silver hair... He attacked... I couldn't..."

" Shhhh..." He placed a gloved finger over her lips. "Save your strength. Rest for now, and I'll try my best to take care of your injuries..."

She only nodded, and gazed at him through her narrowly open brown eyes.

Cloud got to work examining her leg. Sephiroth concluded in his mind that it was broken, and she would need medical attention fast. She managed to lose consciousness while he looked at her injuries, spreading his worry even more.

' She'll be fine. I sense that you'll have to worry about someone else pretty soon...' The ex-general in his head growled.

As is on cue, a dark figure could be seen through the corner of Cloud's eye, and he whirled around, sword in hand.

"You..." He narrowed his eyes at the ever so slowly approaching Yazoo. His glared didn't seem to faze him- the same with his sword- and he continued to approach Cloud.

"Yes. Me..." Yazoo looked at him coldly. He didn't seem to have a violent air about him; in fact, he seemed rather calm this time. His gun blade was sheathed at his side, and he didn't look at all as if he was going to draw it on him.

"What do you want?" Cloud questioned him, while he studied his every movement. His hand flexed around the grip of his sword eagerly as he prepared to block any bullets.

"Relax you fool. I'm not here to fight you." The silver haired man seemed amused with Cloud's paranoid movements. "Tell me... Was it really you who destroyed Sephiroth and JENOVA?"

"I never truly destroyed them... I believe I simply held them off. Sephiroth is still very much alive... And JENOVA will never die, so long as those who contain its cells live..." The blonde stared at him, while explaining calmly.

"Hmmm. I see. You say Sephiroth lives. How so?" Yazoo's yellow eyes were transfixed on him, as though he were truly interested in what Cloud had to say. His pupils were larger than normal and he cocked his head to the side curiously.

"Well... I guess it's a long story..." Cloud had begun to explain, but something shot through his mind. Sephiroth pushed Cloud's conscience back, and took over with his own. Cloud spoke again, this time with another voice. Sephiroth's voice.

"Why are you so interested in knowing that I live?" Sephiroth asked in a cold voice.

Something in the back of Yazoo's mind clicked, as if he recognised this voice. HE instantly recognised his 'brother's' voice and knelt down.

"My brother, forgive me. I had no idea you were contained in this form... But why would you assume the form of the one you want dead?"

" Brother? Want dead?" A look of almost confusion crossed Cloud's features.

"You and Mother both requested Kadaj, Loz, and myself exact revenge upon 'Cloud Strife', your murderer..."

"I have no brothers... How could you... Unless..." Sephiroth was deep in thought, and Cloud took this chance to retake control.

Yazoo stared up at 'them' confused. "You are Sephiroth, correct? Then you are my brother... JENOVA... Mother... Told me so..."

" JENOVA?" Cloud's voice took over. "For one thing, JENOVA is not Sephiroth's mother..."

' What are you talking about? Have you gone mad?' Sephiroth seemed both angry and surprised. Yazoo simply stared.

" Sephiroth's mother was a woman named Lucrecia... She died while giving birth to him, because of Hojo's experiments on her body..." Cloud felt Sephiroth fill with both rage and confusion.

" Lucrecia?" The silver haired figure staring up at him questioned.

' Who is Lucrecia? Why was I never told who my mother was?' The ex-general seemed furious, and sad at the same time.

"I'll explain it all..." Cloud took a deep breath and explained to both of them everything about Lucrecia, Vincent, Hojo, and everything else. It took the better of two hours to explain it all fully, answering their questions, with a few outbursts from Sephiroth taking over Cloud. Finally, the story had been told, and both silver haired figures understood.

"So Sephiroth... Is not our brother...?" Yazoo looked down slightly. " But how could he have told Mother of his want for revenge?"

"I never said any such thing. She must have sensed a weakness in one of you emotionally and took over, telling you lies. She is just using you for her own vengeance." The ex-general told him. "And another thing... I highly doubt JENOVA is your Mother..." Cloud's voice took over.

"Why is that?" He glared at Cloud with an insulted look.

"IT- not she- isn't even human... And therefore couldn't have produced you."

"Hmph... Whatever." Yazoo simply growled at him.

"So... Are you planning on returning to your 'brother's' any time soon? Or are you just gonna stick around?" Cloud questioned him, the man looked away.

"I had planned on aiding you. I haven't agreed with Kadaj since we first started this whole 'quest' to murder you. I would rather help you; Cloud, so we may hopefully stop his madness. Lately, Kadaj has been acting... Strangely. Usually, he's calm, somewhat shy, and is more kind to people in general. Lately, he's been rather bossy, arrogant, and rather explosive as far as his temper goes. It all started after he claimed our Mother had spoken to him and requested vengeance. Loz and I had no choice but to follow him, since he has also become more powerful..."

"I see. So you don't want to go back to them, because they'll kill you and you don't want to die. Fine."

Yazoo's eye flashed to the green cat-like state that Cloud recognised as representing anger. "I'm not afraid to die, fool." He hissed, his teeth bared slightly.

"Ok, ok. You can stay with us I guess. It seems as though I can trust you, at least from what Sephiroth says..."

" Whatever. Anyways, I'm not too much of a social butterfly. I've talked with you all I want for now. Don't expect too much out of me for a while." Yazoo crossed his arms and spoke softly, yet with a tone that suggested he was basically politely asking both Cloud and Sephiroth to shut up.

"Why don't you like to talk...? You seemed chatty enough earlier." A female voice invaded the current conversation. Tifa had awakened, and was looking their way. She still looked as though she were in a great deal of pain. Obviously the pain caused her to not even realise that it was Yazoo, or she wouldn't have been so calm.

"I dislike conversing with anyone. It's just the way I've been since I can remember. Now, can you choose to not ignore that, and leave me alone?"

"Sure. You can be a stick in the mud if you want." Tifa said, a slight sarcastic smile on her face.

"Good to see that you're awake. How's your leg?" Cloud seemed instantly absorbed into a conversation with Tifa. The two exchanged words and such, which Yazoo chose to block out. He simply stood up and walked over to a corner away from them.

"Where are you going?" Cloud called over to him, waiting to see a reaction. A loud shot went off and he felt the metal rush past his face. He stared at the silver haired man, whom was laying on the broken wooden floor, the Velvet Nightmare in his hand glinted with the hint of moonlight through the broken roof.

"Good night." Yazoo grunted coldly, and he turned over onto his side, facing away from Cloud and Tifa. Cloud suddenly had the feeling that having Yazoo around wasn't exactly going to be a pleasant experience.

----------

The sun rose calmly across the dark, ruined building. Kadaj and Loz approached it, both in deep conversation. They didn't even bother to acknowledge the two security guards blocking the door.

They were in a small village that had been assembled at one end of Midgar. A couple hundred people resided there peacefully. The only remotely dangerous area around here was an old abandoned Shin-Ra lab, and accessing it was completely forbidden.

"Where do you think you two are going?" One of the guards pointed a gun at Kadaj, the other pointed at Loz.

"We are entering this lab of course." Kadaj stated calmly. "What are you going to do to stop us?" His hand gently fingered the hilt of Souba, and he gave them a vicious smirk.

"Stay back!" The guards opened fire on them both. Loz dodged the bullets and used his Dual Hound to send one of them sailing through the air. The guard was frightened, and injured slightly, but hadn't died from the attack.

Kadaj wasn't quite so lucky. The guard had managed to get a few rounds in, and metal pierced through his pale flesh. Kadaj cried out as he sank to the ground, his brutally wounded body convulsing in agony.

"You won't be crossing the borders of any Shin-Ra laboratory! We are under strict orders to shoot anyone who had violated the laws!"

Loz stared in shock at his bleeding brother. Kadaj was now shaking, and looked as though he were weary from blood loss. Both the guard and Loz quickly realised; as the wounds on his body closed up and he rose to his feet that he wasn't shaking from pain, but from fury.

He lifted his head, his neck cracking as he did so, and glared at the man in front of him. His pupils narrowed into slits and before the guard had a chance to even comprehend the situation, Kadaj had sliced him in half through the abdomen. The man's intestines and other bloody organs dumped out of either half, and Kadaj's face twisted into a hideous smirk. He then turned and hissed at the other guard, who took off immediately in a panic.

Loz walked up to the door as Kadaj calmed down, and placed a hand on it. He tried to get it open, but it wouldn't budge.

"It's locked..." He stated.

His brother walked up and ripped the door right off it's hinges, tossing it aside like garbage. "We don't have time to open doors the right way. After all, we aren't visiting as benevolent guests..."

Loz just stared at Kadaj and followed him into the darkened, unlit lab.

A/N: Meh. That's all I can think of right now. It's 3am, I'm exhausted, and I'm going to bed. Sorry if this chapter wasn't as good, or ended too abruptly, but I can barely keep my eyes open. Hope it was enjoyed. If not, I can redo it. --AND FOR THE LOVE OF MARSHMALLOWS, PLEASE REVIEW!--


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Kadaj and Loz made their way into the lab. It was quite dark, and a lot of the objects that could be seen were covered in a thick layer of dust. They continued down a long corridor, their mako-enhanced eyes adjusting to the darkness just in time for them to see the doorway they were looking for.

The younger of the two carelessly tossed the door out of his way and headed into the room, his older sibling trailing close behind him. Upon entering, they could make out the glint of glass, faintly gleaming from the glow of mako inside the containers.

" It's rather dark in here, don't you think, Kadaj?" Loz looked around worriedly.

" Must you always state the obvious?" His younger brother shot him a look, and even though he couldn't see Kadaj's face very well, Loz knew it was a look of annoyance. Kadaj merely sighed at him, and walked over to one of the dusty old computer-like systems. He placed his hands delicately on the keys and began typing anything that came to mind. Instantly, the computer came to life, filling the room with light.

" Well... It certainly is bright now..." Kadaj said calmly while shielding his eyes from the brilliant light. The two of them then surveyed the area.

Monsters filled the test tubes around them. Creatures that had once taken a familiar form had now become grotesque monsters. Loz cringed slightly, while Kadaj smirked in amusement.

" So, earlier you said these used to be human... Like us?" The shorter haired man asked in disgust.

" Indeed. And these creatures will so just nicely." Kadaj entered a code into the computer, which JENOVA had told him earlier that day, and the fluids began to pulse through all of the organism's bodies.

Almost every creature in the lab sprang to life, their eyes glowing green with the mako energy they had been infused with.

After tapping a few more buttons, the fluids in the tubes drained into the floor, and the creatures slumped out. Some died instantly when they fell, but about a dozen or so dog-like creatures seemed to survive. They viciously tore apart any other species of monster they saw, before coming to Kadaj's call.

" Listen to me my faithful servants, I command you to destroy anyone or anything that aids Cloud Strife! He has betrayed us all! Now go!" He hollered, and the creatures obeyed instantly. They rushed out of the lab and darted off in separate directions, causing civilians in the area to run for their lives. Kadaj merely laughed, as he and his brother abruptly left the lab and headed out into the chaos.

----------

Cid sat in the cockpit of the High Wind, smoking a cigarette and staring lazily out the window. He was waiting patiently for Tifa to return, and was careless enough to not even realise it was already the next day and she hadn't returned. The morning sun had long since risen, and he was growing bored of waiting around for her.

"Fuckin' kid. Where the hell did that son of bitch run off to that she'd take so fuckin' long?!" He cursed to himself, before laughing roughly and taking a gulp from a nearby liquor bottle.

Suddenly, he felt something burst into the airship. The ship rocked slightly as one of the dog-like creatures smashed into it, seeking Cid's blood. It snarled as it approached him. Its teeth were bared, it was salivating at the mouth, and all in all the appearance of it bored him.

"Get the fuck off my ship you bastard." Cid took another gulp from the bottle and grabbed his spear, standing up in the process. He smirked at it.

The beast growled and snapped its jaws a couple of times before flinging itself at him. He moved to the side and it crashed into his former chair.

"Ha ha, that was pretty lame." He said while stepping on the cigarette he had thrown under his foot. "You suck. Now, get off my ship or die you son of a dick!" Cid thrust the spear at the thing, and impaled it right through its head. It let out a howl, or at least what sounded like one, and slowly slumped over as he drew his weapon from it.

He chucked the spear aside, and grabbed another. "I better go check on those little shits, and make sure they're alright." He laughed at the monster. "Don't you go moving your sorry ass around, ya got that?!" Cid gave it a swift kick in the rear, and walked out of the exit.

-----------

"What are these things?!" Cloud asked out loud, as he fought with two of the dog like creatures. The beasts had ambushed them almost as soon as they had left the church that morning.

' Creations... Probably creations from my father... That bastard...' Sephiroth seemed to scowl in his mind as he controlled Cloud's left arm to grab a creature by the throat.

Yazoo stood back, Tifa holding him for support. His eyes were narrowed, and he wanted to fight, but he couldn't just let the girl drop. He knew he had to fight, though, when Cloud was knocked to the ground by one of the fiends. He quickly drew his gun blade, and swiftly fired a single shot to its head. The creature let out a hideous shriek before dying.

"Where are these things coming from?" Tifa asked weakly.

"My brother, Kadaj, likely sent them. Knowing how his mind works, he probably has them attacking civilians." Yazoo murmured.

"Why on earth would he attack them? He wants to kill me!" Cloud shoved his blade through the abdomen of the other dog-like creature as it flew at him.

' Cloud, he most likely sent them to attack them, knowing it would draw you out to aid the people. He must've figured after drawing you to a certain place he could kill you, having had the creatures weaken you first.' The ex-general said calmly. ' He's toying with your emotions to make you fight.'

"What are we going to do about Tifa's leg?" Cloud suddenly blurted out, after nodding mentally at Sephiroth's statement.

"Hmm. I should have mentioned earlier that I could fix that." Yazoo brushed a stray lock of silver hair out of his eyes. He laid Tifa down on the ground gently, and knelt down beside her. He reached into one of his pockets, and pulled out a small round object- materia. He chanted a few simple words and light spread from the orb to her, completely healing her injured leg.

"Thank you..." She blushed as her brown eyes met his glowing yellow orbs. She smiled slightly at him, reaching up to take his hand. She pulled slightly for him to help her up, but he pried her hand off coldly.

"Don't think because I'm held you up earlier, and healed your injury, that I like you in any way, girl." He turned icily away from her, not even bothering to acknowledge the glare Cloud gave him.

Cloud looked at Tifa, who looked taken back, and walked over to help her up.

"It's about fucking time I found you little punks." A familiar, profane voice rang out.

"Cid!" Tifa smiled to greet the pilot.

"Hello to you too, you son of a bitch." He waved at Tifa, but directed the joking at Cloud.

"Hey Cid... What have you been up to?" Cloud asked his friend.

" Nothing really. Fought some garbage dog, and set out lookin' for you."

"I see... Everyone is supposed to be on their way at some point or another." The blonde stated.

"I know. I got a call from Yuffie, and Nanaki. They said they'd be on their way. Taking them fuckin' long enough." The pilot grinned, and then he diverted his attention to Yazoo, whom was staring at him. "The fuck you lookin' at? Hey Cloud, who is this guy? He looks like Sephiroth."

"My name is Yazoo." The man spoke for himself.

"Ok then. What the hell are you eyeing me for?"

"I was merely staring in wonder. Must you be so profane?" The silver haired man cocked his head to the side in question.

"Fuck you." Cid spat at him jokingly.

"Fuck you too." Yazoo hissed back.

"I like this one already. Where did you find him?" Cid laughed at how seriously Yazoo had taken that.

"He found us." Tifa said, not knowing how else to put it.

"We should head back to the High Wind and discuss it there. It's not safe for us to be out here with those things. Let's go. Where did you leave the ship?" Cloud broke the conversation.

"It's not too far. Shouldn't take us too long to get there." Cid waved for the three to follow, and they did just that.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews people! It's always nice to see what people think about your work. This chapter may not be as good, so I apologize, but I hope it was ok. I'm kind of tired, so I decided to end it abruptly as usual. Sorry. Oh well, I'll stop babbling. Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Cloud, Tifa, Cid and Yazoo had since made their way back to the High Wind. Cloud had explained to Cid about how Yazoo had come to join them. Cid seemed interested and followed that story, as well as the story behind why all of the ex-AVALANCHE members were being called on.

"So... Let me get this straight. Some silver haired freaks came up to you and wanted your life, and apparently have been terrorizing citizens with bullshit about 'GeoStigma' and JENOVA?" Cid asked. Cloud and Tifa nodded, Yazoo glared. He continued, "And then you called up all of AVALANCHE to let them in on this because it could pose a problem? So this one over here... Yazoo, right? Was a member of the three silver haired freaks, but came and joined you because he felt like it? Sounds complicated..."

"Yes, that's about it." Tifa nodded once more.

"I see." Cid just looked deep in thought for a few moments.

"Say, Cid. You wouldn't mind giving us a lift to the orphanage, would you? We need to get Vincent, and check up on the children..." She smiled as she asked him.

"Well, if I weren't gonna help, I wouldn't bloody well be here. Sure, let's go!" Cid grinned, happy to take to the skies in his High Wind once again.

"I'll get there by myself." Yazoo's voice rang out suddenly, and he swiftly headed for the door, a ghost of a stutter in his first words.

"Why?" Cloud questioned his silver haired companion, looking at him oddly.

" Because. I'd prefer to walk."

"Just stay with us. The more the merrier!" Tifa scooted up awfully close to him and smiled cheerfully.

"I don't want to. I would much rather just meet with you there..." Yazoo seemed to be getting more and more focused on leaving as Cid started the engine of the massive airship.

' He's shaking. This Yazoo is afraid of something.' Sephiroth spoke out in Cloud's head with a hint of amusement.

" Yazoo, you're shaking." Tifa stated the obvious.

"Am I? It must be you getting on my nerves." He growled at her.

Since he was being so ignorant, Cloud decided he should retort to Yazoo's remark. "Is it her? OR are you afraid of the air ship?" He asked him with a smirk.

" Afraid?" Yazoo snorted at him, as his face took on a pale reddish hue. He was blushing ever so slightly. "I'm not afraid fool... I... I just don't happen to enjoy your company."

"It's ok to be afraid Yazoo. Lot's of people are afraid of flying, but the High Wind has never failed us. We've flown all over with this thing, right Cid?" Tifa put a comforting hand on the taller figures shoulder. It was quickly removed by one of his gloved hands.

"I'm not afraid of your pathetic means of transportation. I'll come with you, if that's what it takes to prove this." He walked back towards them. "Now, let's get going, I'm tired of talking with you people..." He growled, sitting on the floor in a corner and crossing his arms. He closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly, signalling he didn't want to be bothered with.

"Well, isn't he Mr. Fucking Happy?" Cid asked in a joking manner.

"Best not to bother him. He'll get cranky and probably shoot at you..." Cloud recalled the previous night's events.

"Shoot at me? I'll shoot the fucker out the window like a piece of garbage!" Upon saying this, Cid laughed, and the High Wind rose from the ground.

Tifa looked over at Yazoo, who was still sitting with his head down. He was still shaking, and she walked over to him.

Sitting down beside him, she saw it as an opening to speak, since Cloud and Cid seemed to enjoy a small conversation together. "Hey." She said simply. She didn't at all expect an answer.

He looked up at her with his yellow eyes. Yazoo stared for a moment, as if considering whether or not to respond. He then lowered his head, which she took as a gesture that he wasn't going to talk. She was about to get up and join her friends, when he spoke out softly. " Hello."

" What's wrong?" She didn't know what else to say. She giggled slightly.

He froze for a moment, and then looked up. "What is so funny?"

" Nothing. It's just, I finally get you talking, and the most I can come up with to say is 'What's wrong'." She smiled.

"I see. Why are you so persistent at getting me to talk? You know I'm not going to open up to you, so why bother?"

"You just seem like a lonely person. So I thought I'd keep you company. You might as well warm up a bit if you're going to be with us."

"I see... Tell me. Why do you humans feel such a need to help others?" He cocked his head to the side.

"It's natural... Haven't you ever felt the need to help someone or something, or felt the want to protect something or someone in your life?"

"Never once."

"Why not?"

Yazoo's eyes met hers and they stared at each other for a couple of moments. Then he spoke up again. "I don't feel like talking to you anymore. I request that you leave me alone like I asked in the first place." He lowered his head and shut his eyes. Tifa knew she should just leave him alone, and got up to stroll over to Cid and Cloud. Surprisingly, she didn't even feel the piercing gaze on her back.

It wasn't until she had walked away from him that Yazoo realised that talking to her had completely diminished his fear of flying in this thing. He blushed slightly as he watched her walk away, but quickly shook it off and put his head down once more.

----------

Kadaj and Loz were greeted with sunlight, and the screaming of many citizens. They looked around to see people scattering from a few of their creatures, and Kadaj let out a low laugh.

"Looks like they're getting along with the humans." He looked up at his older brother.

"I'm... worried about Yazoo." Loz said, staring at the havoc being caused without even a hint of amusement.

"Never mind him you fool!" Kadaj practically yelled. He was beginning to become aggravated by Loz's concern for the traitor.

They were quickly cut off of their conversation as a rush of red, and flame slammed into one of the dog-like creatures. It was another beast, a red creature that looked to be a cross of a lion and a wolf. It had a mane of orangey-red fur around its neck, and many scars on its war torn body: the most distinct being a scar over its right eye. Its long tail had a glowing flame on the end of it, and it roared in fury and it attacked.

Nanaki quickly tore the beast to shreds and went on chasing down another. He disposed of that one with a little less ease, but still managed to stop it from harming anyone. Two more of the dog-like monsters rushed at him, snapping their beak-like jaws in anger. He bared his own razor sharp teeth and taunted for them to chase him.

Kadaj paid no heed to the passing airship and watched with amusement as the red beast led his own monsters astray from the innocent people, and took them on. The animal took quite a beating, before a voice from over head caught his ears.

A girl jumped from the air ship, opened a parachute and brandished a large ninja star-like object. She gracefully landed on the ground, pulling the parachute off herself and moving a few stray short locks of brown hair out of her eyes. Yuffie grinned as she looked over at her former companion.

"About time you got here." Nanaki spoke, something that took both Loz and Kadaj back.

"So I'm a little late, big deal. It's time to finish these guys off!" The ninja and the animal exchanged glances, and with a nod from each, both took on their separate enemies. Yuffie used her weapon and drove it right into one of them, while red viciously tore at the monsters throat. Both managed to end the lives of their adversaries pretty quickly.

"We should get going to find Cloud and the others. Come on, the airship will have landed just over there! We can get a ride!" Yuffie motioned for Nanaki to follow. The two took off towards the direction the airship had flown, and shortly after had boarded it. In no time at all, Kadaj and Loz were watching their opponents escape in the small flying vessel.

"We should make our way towards them all. There is no doubt that Cloud and his little fools will meet at some point, and then we can make sure they all meet their demise." The man with shoulder length hair ran his hand through it, and smirked at the sky. "Come brother, let us go now. It's almost time."

Loz nodded and the two made their way to their vehicles.

' Soon my mother... Soon you will have your revenge...' Kadaj mentally said to JENOVA, who responded with a small mental smirk.

Kadaj and Loz tore off after the air ship, and roughly followed its path to find their victims.

---------------

A/N: Hmmm well. I'm tired so there it is for now. Pretty crappy chapter, eh? Well, I need sleep now. I hope to start making longer chapters at some point. Hope this chapter was at least enjoyed to some extent. I'll try and make the next one longer and better.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

It was late in the evening and somehow Cloud and Tifa had managed to find a place for Barrett, Nanaki, Cid, Vincent, Yuffie, and Yazoo to sleep in their small orphanage. Most of them shared rooms with each other and the children were crammed into one. As much as the little ones protested, even Marlene: Barrett's little girl whom he had brought with him, Tifa made sure to explain to them it was only for a short while.

Yazoo was having a tough time coping with the presence of so many new faces and decided to disappear for a little while into the small wooded area outside of the place.

"What the hell is his problem?" Barrett asked, interrupting the current conversation. Quite frankly, like Cid, they were all interested in knowing why they had been brought here, but this new face had bothered Barrett since he had laid eyes on him.

"He's not very talkative, don't mind him." Tifa explained cheerfully to her old friend.

"Not talkative? You two sure seemed to be chatting up a fucking storm on my ship earlier!" Cid cracked at her, grinning at how she blushed.

"I was only asking him what was wrong..." She said, red in the face.

" That's not what matters right now! Let Cloud get on with the point!" Yuffie halted the talk about Yazoo and switched it back to the previous subject.

"Yes. The reason we're all here... A problem has arisen..." Cloud began. He felt the presence in his mind take over, and saw the shocked faces of everyone but Tifa as Sephiroth's voice emerged from him. Over the next three or so hours, both Cloud and Sephiroth took intervals at explaining the situation. Eventually, everyone thoroughly understood, even after several outburst and arguments.

"I suppose if we are supposed to get anything accomplished with these silver haired people, we might as well get to bed." Nanaki suggested, after yawning rather loudly.

Everyone suddenly realised how late it had gotten, and how tired he or she was. So, taking the advice of the wise animal, they all headed off to their rooms. Cid, Nanaki, and Barrett shared a room, as well as Yuffie, Vincent and Cloud. Tifa suggested she would stay up a little longer to think.

"Don't be stayin' up to late. We gotta get on with this pretty damn soon before those psychos get their hands on their precious JENOVA. G'night." Barrett walked into his room with Nanaki and Cid, and he shut the door.

Tifa walked into the orphan's room, and checked on the sleeping children. She smiled as they slept peacefully in their makeshift beds, unaware of the trauma befalling the Planet once more. She gazed around, and her smile faded as she noted one particular child's absence.

" Marlene!" Tifa gasped worriedly. ' I'll just go out and get her... I don't want to wake anyone up... She can't have gone too far, right?' She asked herself mentally, before heading out the front door of the house quietly.

Looking around, and straining her eyes to see the dirt ground, she managed to make out the shape of small footprints. Following them eagerly she found she had lead herself into the woods outside. It was a bit chilly outside, and she wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her hands up and down every now and then to keep warm. After about fifteen minutes of walking, and losing the trail of footprints she managed to make out two humanoid forms in the distance. One looked relatively tall, and the other relatively tiny- like a little girl. Relief filled her as she broke into a dash towards the two.

Her instinct was right, for both Yazoo and Marlene looked up at her in unison.

" Tifa!" The little girl hopped up and ran to the woman, hugging her tightly. Tifa hugged her back.

" Marlene! You had me so worried! What are you doing out here?!" Tifa asked gently, yet sternly.

"I saw the nice man walk off into the forest earlier, so I put on my jacket and followed him cause I thought he'd be lonely..." Marlene hung her head slightly, and looked back over at Yazoo, who seemed to be staring off into space yet in their relative direction.

"It's ok Marlene, but next time you should tell someone before you wander off like that. Besides, I'm sure he doesn't appreciate you following him like that." Tifa looked up at the silver haired man while she said the last sentence with a look of question.

"But... But we talked about lots! We have a lot in common. Both of us don't know who our real mommy and daddy are... An-and we both don't like lots of people: we're kinda shy in that case I guess... He says he has two brothers... I wish I had a brother or sister! That would be cool!" Marlene seemed excited to have chatted with him.

"I see..." Tifa nodded. "Is she... bothering you?" She gestured towards Yazoo, who looked straight at her.

"Not at all." His eyes seemed different now; they were a deep blue, and the pupils were round and quite large. A ghost of a smile passed over his pale face. He seemed almost... happy?

" That's good... Marlene, we should get you back to the orphanage with your father. It's past your bedtime..." She told the girl, who groaned childishly in protest.

"But Tifa... I wanna talk to the nice man some more!" Marlene pouted at her.

"Tifa is right, Marlene." Yazoo stood up and joined the two of them. The sound of his voice saying her name sent chills up Tifa's spine. " Do not worry. We will talk tomorrow."

Marlene looked up at him. "Promise?" She held up her little finger to him.

"I promise." He leaned over slightly taking off his glove, and shook her small finger with one of his long pale one.

Most of the walk back to the orphanage consisted of either the sound of footsteps, or the occasional exchange if words between the two females. Yazoo kept quiet the entire time, seeming to be more interested in watching their surroundings.

When they finally reached the small house and bid goodnight to the little girl, Tifa was exhausted.

"I think I'm gonna get some sleep... You should too..." She trailed off as she watched him look out the window.

" Them..." He snarled. "I have to go. My brothers are here."

The woman's heart sped up. "Why are they here?"

"Most likely to attack. I'll go with them, and pretend to rejoin them. That way they'll hold off attacking a little longer, and I could gather information on their current plans..."

"But what if they..."

"They will not kill me. I suggest you stay out of view. Go into those rooms and wake your friends. Lead them off into the woods we were in earlier, and I suggest you all evacuate to a different place. Whatever you do, do NOT let them know that I am still on your side." He warned her.

"Cloud and the others? Why not?" She seemed slightly puzzled at his odd choice.

" Because. If they know I am still with them, they will hint that they still know I am, and thus Kadaj is likely to pick up on that. If he does, then not only will I be killed, but so will you AND your friends. So just keep quiet."

" Alright. So this is good bye?" Tifa looked up at him.

"For now." He nodded. "I will return soon enough. Just give me a few days."

"Good bye."

He simply waved slightly and quietly slipped out the door. He dashed towards what sounded like two motorcycle engines. Tifa realised by how quickly he disappeared onto the horizon, that he was incredibly fast. She shook the thought, sighing, and with a look of worry stared off in his general direction.

--------------

"Well, well, well. If it isn't our little traitor, come crying back to us." Kadaj looked at his second oldest sibling with a look of utter disgust, as he screeched the brakes of his vehicle, bringing it to an unsteady halt. He climbed off and walked towards the longer haired man.

"What do you want?" Loz's motions were the same, and he stopped beside Kadaj, glaring at Yazoo. Deep down he felt relief that his brother was safe, but if he were to express this infront of Kadaj, he couldn't imagine what he would do.

"I've come to rejoin you. I found out some valuable information about those fools that may interest you... If you let me live, we may just be able to complete our goal." Yazoo smirked at them.

Kadaj's pupils became slits, and in a flash he unsheathed Souba. Before Yazoo could contemplate the motion, it had slashed across his chest, leaving a river of red to rust over his trench coat. "We no longer need you assistance..." He laughed, and his face twisted into a hideous smirk. He slowly raked his sword back up his older siblings fresh wound, "However... I'm not the type to slay my own brother in such a way... I'll let you live, and come with us again..." His smirk became a hideous, menacing grin as he noticed the pained expression on Yazoo's face."

"I thank you, brother. You will not regret this. First of all, I know the location of Sephiroth's body. Our brother is very much alive, and he is situated on the upper floor of the old church in what used to be the slums of Midgar. It may be of some use for you to go and visit him, Kadaj." Yazoo spoke informingly.

" Alright. I will do so tomorrow. As for both of you, while I am gone, you will attack the small town on the edge of the ruins. Loz and I were there earlier, but our attack failed thanks to some of Strife's comrades. This time though, there will be no failure. I am most certain Cloud and his little fools won't be there to defend the fools there. And then, you will retrieve what we didn't manage to." The youngest of the three said calmly.

"What could we have failed to retrieve? Why didn't we get it?" Loz seemed clearly confused.

"We didn't get it, because I didn't feel like it." Kadaj held up his hand and allowed a blue glow to consume it. His eyes became hollow, and he shot a few laser like beams at nothing in particular. A large explosion rocked the ground beneath the three, and Kadaj smiled in satisfaction. ' My link with mother is growing stronger, as are my powers... Soon my dear mother... The planet will be all yours, and nothing will stand in your path..." He reared back his head and laughed wickedly, receiving strange looks from both of his brothers.

That didn't bother their younger sibling, as he hopped back onto his motorcycle completely ignoring them. Yazoo simply hopped onto the back of Loz's bike, after being gestured to do so, and the three sped off into the night.

Tifa heard the roar of the engines, and couldn't help but feel worried for him as the group hustled as fast as possible through the woods, making a shield around the children.

Marlene grasped onto Tifa's hand and forced her to look down. "Where is the nice man?" She looked slightly saddened at the absence of the silver haired individual.

"Yeah, where did he make off to? Did he return to them?" Vincent spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Yes... He stormed out saying he was going back to his brothers..." Tifa stated. Marlene looked up happily, as she was of course unaware of whom his brothers were.

"Will he bring them back to visit?" She asked cheerfully, but her face fell at the sight of the older people's expressions.

"Soon enough they'll pay us a visit... Don't you worry..." Cloud grumbled coldly. After his moment of speech, everyone grew silent, and the rest of their walk seemed to ache on for hours.

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A/N: Yeah, yeah I know. Bad place to end it. Oh well, at least I wrote! And before you go on will all the "WHAT ABOUT CAIT SITH?!" bull shit, he's not in it because I haven't seen any screens of him OR Reeve on any Advent Children site. I DO however plan on making the next couple of chapters a little more calm, with less fighting, for my own reasons (A- I suck at fighting scenes. B- I need to explain other stuff).

Another thing: Thank you for the reviews! I appreciate the support! :D I just wanted to add to LilFlyerGirl- Will Aeris be in it? Maybe. ;) You'll just have to wait and see.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

"So, what brings you back here suddenly Yazoo?" Kadaj hollered over the roar of the two engines. He looked over at his elder brother, a hint of amusement crawling across his features.

"I never left. I simply went to spy on them under my own terms, brother." Yazoo lifted his one hand to push aside a few stray locks of silver hair. His face remained completely emotionless and cold.

"Do not call me that." Kadaj glared at him. "Neither of you." His gaze wondered over to Loz, who was looking at him puzzled.

"Why not?" He asked with a quizzical look on his face, completely dumbfounded.

" Because. Didn't I ever tell you two?" A smirk crept across Kadaj's face as he screeched to a halt, as did Loz.

"Tell us what?" The oldest of the three got a look of slight annoyance on.

"Only one of us is truly the brother of Sephiroth. Only one of us is truly even a natural being. You fools are nothing more than pathetic creations, both failures... Both of you are insignificant to this world. I am the true brother of Sephiroth, you two are nothing more than experiments made in his image." Kadaj laughed at them both, as he caught notice of both of their expressions. "Loz and Yazoo... Or should I say Project L02 and Project Y4200... Ha. It doesn't matter. You are not related to myself in any way. You're clones. Loz..."

Kadaj's gesture toward him caught the attention of the eldest of the three. "You're lying..." He managed to say to the younger man.

Kadaj merely ignored the comment and continued. "You were the first of us to be created. Twenty-seven years ago, Shin-Ra Inc began adapting clones of Sephiroth, even though he was still young. You were created first, intended to be superior to Sephiroth in every way possible. You failed, and were sealed in a mako-filled tube for twenty-three years. The same became of Yazoo, almost immediately after his creation twenty three years ago."

"How do you expect us to believe you?" Yazoo growled at him, eyes full of anger. He knew deep down that this man wasn't lying to him, but he didn't want to believe it.

" Yazoo... Loz..." He smiled, and in a voice laced with venom he continued on. "Neither of you has the right to call me brother. You have the right to call me master... I am JENOVA's only child now..."

"Why are you telling us this now?" Loz seemed angry as well.

" Because. You and I both know very well you two won't bail on this. What else would you have to live for? I'm right, and you know it. Now go! Go to the lab, and bring me Mother's head!" Kadaj yelled, slamming on the gas, and speeding off towards the ruins of Midgar. He knew that while he visited his brother there, they would go and get it.

" Should we go...?" The older of the two broke the 10-minute silence that had befallen them since their 'brother' had left.

"We should. He is right, what more do we have to live for...?" Yazoo didn't seem to want to talk anymore.

Loz simply stared at the ground for a moment, before tearing off once more toward their destination.

------------

Cloud wandered out of the small ruin they had found to shelter themselves in. The others had long fallen asleep, but he just couldn't. He couldn't help but keep himself absorbed in his current train of thought.

"What is the afterlife like?" He said aloud suddenly. He fiddled with the small pink ribbon that was fastened on his arm; a memorial item that he had used to remember the one he lost two years ago. The day she had died, her ribbon had fallen from her hair. Cloud and the rest of AVALANCHE had taken a strip from the piece of fabric and fastened it to their arm in memory of the half-cetra.

Cloud stared at the starry sky, wondering if Aeris was out there somewhere. He pondered what she was doing, and if she was happy in death. "What is it like to be dead?" He hung his head once more and closed his eyes. Did she even miss him? Did she even feel his absence?

As he opened his eyes, everything became white. Brilliant white light filled his vision, and slowly faded to become a field of various types of flowers. Cloud stared in shock for a moment, blinked and shook his head.

"I must be tired." He said aloud, but it was all still there in front of him. He decided while he was there he might as well walk around.

He turned and his heart nearly skipped a beat. In the distance was a figure, clothed in a worn, pink dress, with a short red jacket over top. Her long brown hair cascaded down her back, and she wore a pair of old-looking brown boots that didn't suit the rest of the outfit. She was turned away from him, and seemed to be tending to a patch of the various flowers around there.

Hope filled him and he dashed as fast as he could at the figure, which stood slowly and turned to face him. Aeris smiled as Cloud approached her, as did he.

"Aeris!" Cloud seemed a lot happier than he normally did in the past two years. The one he had lost, was standing right in front of him.

"Cloud..." She said softly. "It's very good to see you..." She walked over to him and the two shared a friendly embrace.

"I've missed you." He looked down at her and spoke gently.

"I've missed you as well, Cloud. As much as I want you to stay with me, our time together now is short. You are only here for a matter of moments and in that time I have to tell you what is going to happen." Her smile faded slightly, into a look of sadness. "As Yazoo may have told you, JENOVA wasn't destroyed, and she took on another person to be her puppet. That person is Kadaj. JENOVA's power has been stored in his body, not only causing his actions, but increasing his power as well. He, Loz, and Yazoo are not truly your enemies, they are merely misled. JENOVA is trying to manipulate them into restoring her physical self."

" JENOVA can't be restored, can she?"

"She can Cloud. It's a very real possibility. And The Planet knows this, as it has been screaming for me to reach out to you. It's in danger once again, and you need to stop the parasite before it succeeds in its goal." Aeris pulled from the blondes embrace gently and turned so she stood back to back with him. "I'm sorry our time has been cut so short... I hope we can visit again sometime, Cloud." They turned to face one another again, and the girl gave him a sad smile.

"Aeris!" Everything began to fade out into white, and before he knew it he was laying on the ground, with Tifa, Cid, Vincent, and Barrett looming over him.

"Are you alright?" Tifa asked, helping him to his feet.

"Yeah... I'm fine..." Cloud rubbed his head slightly.

"You gave us quite a fuckin' scare there! With your damn screaming and yelling and such." Cid remarked.

"Don't you go makin' us all worry about your spiky ass!" Barrett chuckled at him and gave him a friendly punch in the arm.

"I'm sorry. We should all get back inside. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll head back to the orphanage and take the High Wind elsewhere to some place safe." He received a nod from everyone, and they walked back inside the run-down building.

--------------

"Such a horrible place for you to be kept my brother..." Kadaj said to the man in the wheel chair behind him. The white sheet was over him once again.

The figure gave no response. And Kadaj looked back from his standing place, averting his gaze from the large hole in the wall. He turned and walked over to the cloaked figure, taking slow, light steps. He knelt down and gently grasped it's hand, feeling the cold from it even through his gloves. Kadaj pressed his lips softly to the icy hand, before looking up at the face of the figure.

He stood up again, and stared down at his 'brother'. "My brother... Why have you been left in such a place...?" Kadaj stared at the unmoving, silent man. He wondered what he could possibly be under this sheet.

Unable to stand it he grasped a fold of the dusty, white fabric and threw it off to expose Sephiroth's body. At first, he thought him to be dead, but as Kadaj looked into the man's blank eyes he realised that he was missing a soul, but was very much alive.

"Who has done this to you?!" Kadaj seethed through clenched teeth. " My brother... I swear revenge upon those pitiful humans for what they have done!"

' You fool.' JENOVA's voice rang out in his mind.

" Mother?" He winced at her tone of voice.

' You have been stalling all this time, holding off on Cloud's death... Why is that?'

" Mother... I..."

' You are just like Yazoo and Loz. You were created just as they were, and you were too foolish to not even realise how I used you. Sephiroth is not your brother. I am not even your Mother, Kadaj. I used you to gain power over the three of you, so I could feed from this planet.'

"No..."

' Yes. Isn't it ironic that you would shun the other failures like that, only to find out what a failure you truly are yourself? I'm tired of my plans being stalled, Cloud will die, NOW!' JENOVA surged all of her energy into Kadaj, who cried out in agony. He slumped over to his knees, grasping his temples.

" WHY?!" He screamed, feeling her taking over every essence of his being. He felt helpless, as if his soul had been discarded into a corner of his mind. A dark corner, one from which he could do nothing except view the destruction that was going to occur. But then he felt something else: the want... no the NEED to partake in this destruction. His mind combined with that of JENOVA's and he felt nothing but blind rage, and a thirst for blood he had never felt in his life. Kadaj rose to his feet, in a slow, jerky movement. He fingered the hilt of his double-bladed sword and drew it, staring at his reflection in it.

His eyes were hollow and black, with silver slits for pupils. His skin was a lot paler now, and he smirked viciously as he slashed at nothing in particular.

He ran outside, with an even more unnatural speed than before. Kadaj laughed as he felt the absolute power flowing through every inch of his body, and he drove a glowing blue fist into the motorcycle before him.

"We have no use for such vehicles!" Kadaj spoke loudly, and his voice now seemed to be a combination of both his and JENOVA's. "Cloud... You had best look out... We're coming for you!" He hissed at the thin air, revealing the fact that his canine teeth had become fang like. With a burst of incredible speed he dashed off toward the direction he felt the presence of Cloud in. Kadaj would kill him now, no matter what.

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A/N: Whew, another chapter out of the way... And another one to follow shortly. Oo; Hope it was enjoyable, R&R! (Points to the purple button below) Please, I'm desperate!


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Yazoo and Loz approached the old lab. The guards on the outside immediately scattered upon their arrival, fearing for their lives. Fortunately for them, the two silver haired men were in more of a mood to just get this over with, and ignored their presence all together.

"I assume this will not take long?" Yazoo questioned in a bored tone.

"No. The head should be in the back of the lab." Loz gestured for Yazoo to follow.

The two entered the lab, making their way through the mess the creatures had made in their from Kadaj and Loz's last visit. They finally reached the back only to find the door sealed off. Loz repeated his youngest brothers previous actions, and ripped the door right off its hinges, throwing it aside effortlessly.

" There." Yazoo pointed to a large glass tank, containing a severed, mutilated head. "That, I would assume, is JENOVA's head."

Both of them stared in awe of the creature's head. It was almost humanoid, with pale hair that appeared to have been chopped abruptly. Its flesh seemed to take on a bluish tinge, but it was apparent that all of its blood had been drained.

Yazoo pulled out the Velvet Nightmare and shot the glass, allowing the oddly coloured fluid, obviously a combination of mako and various other substances, to flow onto the floor. He reached inside and snatched the object of desire, ripping it free of anything it had been hooked up to.

"Now, let's return to Kadaj." The oldest one muttered, and both nodded at one another. They walked out of the damaged building at a leisurely pace, ignoring the panic their presence had caused. Several people stared at them in horror as they headed for their mode of transportation.

Yazoo assumed these people weren't used to failed experiments walking down their roads with the severed head of a planet-threatening parasite. However, he didn't really care what they were used to. He shouldn't have even felt anything at all about these people. Why should he? He was nothing more than a pathetic creation of some whack job that ceased to exist now. The mere thought of being created caused his current mood to switch to being foul and bitter.

They were just about to mount the bike, when a voice rang out to them.

"And just where to you think you're going with that?" A redheaded man, with his hair tied into a ponytail spat at them. He clutched the rod he had been holding tighter.

They took notice of what they recognized to be a Turk, a former bodyguard to the President Shin-Ra. Then the two took further notice to the taller, bald-headed man next to him, whose eyes were covered by the dark sunglasses in front of them. His hand seemed to be anxious to pull the trigger of the gun he was pointing at them.

"Who do you think you are? You're nothing more than a lowlife without work now that Shin-Ra is gone. Don't delay us any further, or you will die." Loz pounded the Dual Hound into his right hand.

"I am Reno, and this here is Rude. I'll have you know that what you are holding belongs to us." The man who called himself 'Reno' sneered at the older of the two creations, obviously unaware of the power these men possessed.

"Do you think we care what your names are?" Yazoo growled at him, raising his gun blade to the two former Turks who stood in their way.

" Obviously you do. You asked." Reno gave him a smirk, and then pointed the rod at them both. "Now, hand over JENOVA's head."

"No." Loz simply muttered at him.

"Then die." Rude began firing bullets at them, while Reno tried to trap them with a pyramid from the rod.

One of the bullets managed to catch Yazoo in the shoulder, causing a wave of pain to rush through him. He fired a few shots of his own, while clutching his shoulder in agony. The pain was added on to the still closing wounds that Kadaj had put into him, and although he too healed faster than a regular being, he still took longer than his companions.

Loz was far too fast for Reno to succeed in trapping, and he merely struck the man to the ground. He grabbed the head of JENOVA from the ground where Yazoo had dropped it in his pain, and waved Yazoo over to the motorcycle. Both of them jumped on, and Loz quickly started the engine. The younger of the two fired a shot or two at Rude, and they sped off with their prize.

"Damn, they got away." The redhead got up and punched the ground in frustration.

"So what do we do? Now they have the head, the source of the GeoStigma virus..." Rude, although you couldn't see his eyes obviously had a look of great worry passing onto his face.

"We have to find a way to stop them, before there's an outbreak. This could be serious. No. This IS serious." Reno looked towards the motorcycle in this distance, its figure growing smaller on the horizon.

"They have it." Sephiroth's voice suddenly blurted out of Cloud. With a look of confusion, the former members of AVALANCHE turned to face the blonde.

"Have what? What the fuck are you talking about?" Cid grunted at him.

It was morning, and the group had since made their way onto the High Wind, which was now up in the air. There was fortunately enough room for everyone on the huge airship, even though many of the children feared the thought of flying.

Barrett, who was holding his sleeping 'daughter', spoke up. "So now what are we gonna do? Fly around all the time hopin' they won't be able to catch our asses? We can't run forever!"

"They have JENOVA's head." The ex-general made the issue at hand known.

" What do you mean?! Are you crazy, how would you know?!" Yuffie stared at him.

"I can sense that JENOVA's head is being moved. I was, and in a way still am, connected to her mentally for a long time after all. My assumption is that our enemies have retrieved it, in order to restore her physical self."

"I see. So we need to prevent this from happening obviously." Nanaki lifted his head from his paws, and stood up from his laying position.

" Precisely. JENOVA was a parasite, as you may know. And most parasites spread disease. JENOVA is no different. She... IT spreads a virus called GeoStigma." Sephiroth commented.

"What exactly does this... GeoStigma do?" Tifa asked, almost afraid to hear his answer.

"Not even I know that." The ex-general said simply.

Cloud took this chance to come through. "We should put a stop to them before they spread this virus and resurrect JENOVA. Cid, land this thing in the safest place you can find. Vincent, you, and I will all go after them."

"I'm coming too." Tifa declared.

"No, you'll stay here." The blonde said sternly. "It's dangerous."

"You can't stop me from coming, and I am going to come along with you. I might be able to talk some sense into Yazoo." She blushed slightly at saying his name.

"If you MUST come along, then you will stay back. I don't want you getting hurt again." Cloud cautioned her, and they all felt a sudden jerk as Cid carelessly landed the ship into a clear area.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Barrett cried as he was thrown off balance, and the sleeping girl in his arms awoke.

" What's wrong, papa?" She asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

" Nothin' Marlene, just this morons faulty landin'..." He glared at Cid.

"That was a perfectly damn good landin' and you know it!" Cid cracked at him.

"Let's not argue, let's just get going." The blonde grew irritated, and waved for the three others to follow him off the ship.

" Tifa!" Marlene ran up to the older woman, who turned to face her.

"What is it?"

"Are you going to see the nice man?"

" Mhmm."

"Say hello to him for me, ok?" Marlene asked her with a smile.

Tifa responded with a look of false cheerfulness as she nodded, " Alright. Good bye everyone."

The four of them waved their good byes and headed off the air ship to find the three silver haired men, and stop them once and for all. Fortunately, it didn't take long for them to meet their enemies, even though there were only two of them.

" Strife..." Loz muttered, bringing their vehicle to a stop just infront of the people who sought them.

"So you managed to retrieve JENOVA's head. Well done." Vincent said sarcastically.

" Actually, security wasn't much of a challenge, considering they ran at the sight of us." Yazoo commented, remembering the guard's terrified faces.

"You fuckin' loser. First you run away from your brothers and come snivelling up to us like a dog, and then you go crawling back to them like the scum you fuckin' are. Make up your mind, you shit head!" Cid barked at him.

"We would prefer it if you didn't refer to us as brothers. We aren't after all. You see, Yazoo and I were created many years ago, and ended up as massive failures to Shin-Ra Inc. Apparently, we were sealed in mako for twenty-three years, and then Kadaj released us, being the only true child of JENOVA left." Anger seemed to flare up in the older mans eyes as he explained to them what they had learned of themselves.

" You're pissing me off, let's get this over with." Cid readied his spear while speaking.

At the same time, Cloud drew his sword, Vincent readied his gun, and Tifa prepared to use her combat skills.

"You seriously think you can stop us?" Loz questioned them, his face suddenly showing amusement. "Though we are failures, we were still created as super-clones of Sephiroth, which makes us more powerful than you could ever imagine..." He readied the Dual Hound, which crackled with an aqua energy, as he tried to intimidate his foes.

Yazoo didn't even bother to comment, but instead ran at Vincent. He held his gun blade up to block a swing from the man's artificial arm, and attempted to land a blow in on his abdomen with his foot. Vincent jumped back gracefully, amazed that even though he was clearly wounded, Yazoo would actually present a challenge.

He smirked under the cloth in front of his face, and shot at Yazoo. The silver haired man dodged the shot in a display of his own grace but Tifa delivering a high-kick to eliminate the Velvet Nightmare from his grip prevented any gunfire from him.

"So you're in on this too?" He averted his attention to her, before grabbing her. Tifa was surprised by him grabbing her, but obviously after what he had told her earlier and the gentleness of his grasp, he wasn't going to harm her. He tossed her to the ground as softly as possible, and turned back to Vincent whom had already reopened fire on him. Dodging even more bullets, Yazoo sighed. These people were persistent.

Cloud flung himself at Loz, swinging his blade with all his might. The buster blade met his opponent's weapon, and to his shock, didn't even make a dent in its metal. The silver haired clone thrust his metal covered arm forward, knocking Cloud onto the ground. He was taken off guard by a blow from Cid's spear, but it didn't really faze him much as he turned and grabbed the shaft of the object. He ripped it from his flesh and hurled Cid backwards with it.

"Fuck, did you even feel that?" The pilot got back onto his feet at the same time Cloud rose.

"Cid, now!" He called. Both of them charged Loz and managed to knock him to the ground. Cloud brought the point of the heavy blade to his opponent's throat. "Give up?"

"Not likely." He was answered by a sharp kick to his stomach.

The blonde staggered back, clutching the spot where he had been hit. A small trickle of blood flowed from his mouth, which Sephiroth used his left hand to wipe off.

Vincent and Yazoo had managed to disarm one another, and were now engaging in a close-range, hand to hand fight. Tifa watched as Yazoo seemed to be literally trying to cause Vincent harm, and she started to worry that maybe he really had turned on them.

He delivered a blow right to the side of Vincent's head, and grasped his throat viciously. Vincent gasped for air, and felt the circulation of oxygen being cut from his lungs. Yazoo let out a low laugh as he watched his opponent struggle.

"You are going to die now." He stated, increasing the already vastly strong grip he had on the man's throat.

" That's... what you think..." Vincent growled. His eyes flashed blood red, and before Yazoo had a chance to comprehend the situation, Vincent had changed into a gigantic, purple bat-like creature. It opened its salivating jaws and roared in fury.

"What a nice trick. I should show you one of my own." Vincent watched through the form of Chaos as Yazoo grasped the head of JENOVA from its place on the motorcycle. He reached into a pocket of his trench coat and produced from it a small, razor sharp knife. He plunged it into the parasite's head, and withdrew it. The knife now glinted with a slime-like substance.

Chaos roared and flew swiftly at him, ready to slash him into pieces. He abruptly stopped his flight as Yazoo ripped through his leathery, purple flesh with the dagger. A smoke like substance poured from the wound and Vincent reverted to his normal state, eyes wide with shock. He soon found that he couldn't move, and that his body was rapidly losing power.

"I call my trick GeoStigma. Hope you like it." He laughed.

Tifa got to her feet and practically flew over to Yazoo. "What are you doing?! He could die!" She said, glaring at him through teary eyes.

"Hmm. I thought after I threw you aside you would stay out of the way. I guess I was wrong. Please don't, or I'll have to perform my new trick on you."

" What's wrong with you?" She slapped him. "You're supposed to be with us! And now you're trying to kill us?!"

He raised a gloved hand to his face and smirked at her as he felt the stinging spot her hand had connected with. "Don't worry. I didn't inject the virus at its full potential. Your friend will be fine in a few days... At least I think so, anyway."

Tifa stared at him in disbelief. He merely ignored her look and faced the battle going on between Loz, Cid, and Cloud.

However, all of their attention was averted to elsewhere, Kadaj dove in from seemingly nowhere. His hand was glowing blue, and was wrapped tightly around Cloud's throat. He laughed wickedly, as he felt the bones in his victim's neck begin to weaken.

Cid took a stab at him with his spear, but the JENOVA possessed man simply snapped the metal shaft of the object in half with his free hand. Cloud felt Sephiroth take over and felt energy gathering in his left hand. In a burst of white light, Kadaj was knocked back.

The blonde gasped for air, and watched as the younger man got up as if nothing had even happened.

"DIE!" Kadaj spoke, his voice surprising everyone with the fact that it was not only his but JENOVA's. Before he had a chance to fling himself at Cloud again, Souba in hand to deliver a fatal slash, Loz was standing there beside him.

"Kada- I mean master... We retrieved the head of JEN-..." He was silenced as Kadaj drove him into the ground by throwing him, and his body hit the dirt ground with a sickening crack. The young silver haired man focused a ball of blue energy into his hand and threw it in Tifa's direction.

She screamed, but her noise was stopped when she felt someone else slam into her, taking her down with him into the ground. The laser-like beams flew past, narrowly missing them by inches and took out what ever was unfortunate enough to be in their path.

Tifa looked up at Yazoo, whom looked at her with concern. "Are you alright?" He asked, his voice soft.

"I... I think so..." She choked.

"Good. Let's get you out of here." Yazoo got up quickly, taking Tifa into his arms. She blushed slightly at his embrace but her thoughts were cut short by the sound of Cloud crying out in agony.

" CLOUD!" She screamed out to her friend, but the man holding her wasn't letting the struggling girl escape. She fought with his hold on her, but he wouldn't let go.

" Relax. Cloud will be fine, as will your other two friends. Don't worry about them right now, worry about holding on." He picked up JENOVA's head and tossed it off the bike, leaping onto it with the girl. He started the thing as quick as possible, driving off like a maniac.

Tifa simply clutched onto Yazoo, tears falling from her eyes. "Cloud... Vincent... Cid... No..." She couldn't help but worry for her friends as she watched the distance between them grow farther apart.

A/N: Meh, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed it. Thank you all for reviewing! I appreciate it! Sorry I had to cut this one off so suddenly, but I'm tired and hungry, so... Yeah. I'll post more soon. R&R!


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

" Prepare to die, Cloud Strife! You will pay for what you have done to us!" Kadaj screamed, infuriated. He charged at Cloud, who held up the Buster Sword in defence. The clang of Souba's steel slamming into Cloud's sword was immensely loud, and a shower of sparks soared through the air. The blonde was knocked flying yet again, with a look of shock on his face.

' He was strong before, but not this strong!' He cried in his mind to Sephiroth, hoping the ex-general would have some sort of plan to stop this maniac.

' JENOVA has fused minds with him completely, causing the JENOVA cells in him to spread. This spread of parasitic cells has not only made him immensely strong, it has also guaranteed his death if he is separated from her.' The silver haired man in his mind explained. ' There is no choice but to somehow kill him, in order to release him.'

' But how do I kill him?! He just flings me back and attacks again!' Cloud screamed in agony as his body slammed into the ground.

' Somehow, you have to separate him from JENOVA, and then you'll have to destroy him.'

' You're not much help sometimes, Sephiroth.' Cloud muttered in his head, before forcing himself to his feet. He staggered a bit, and slowly regained his balance. Painfully, he held up the Buster Sword in front of him again.

"It's no use Strife!" Kadaj laughed wickedly at him, throwing an attacking Cid to the dirt below and stepping on him. "Give up! You're going to die, that's inevitable!" His eyes flashed with aqua light and another burst of blue beams flew from his hand.

" Great." Cloud grunted, rolling onto the ground and out of the way. With Cid and Vincent down, and Tifa gone, he was alone to face his enemy.

Kadaj looked at him, an angry glare taking over his features. "This time I won't miss you..." He hissed, before running at him, full speed. He swung his two-bladed sword at Cloud. Cloud simply stared, for this time, just as Kadaj had said, it was going to hit.

He braced himself to be sliced in half, closing his eyes tightly. Suddenly, he heard Kadaj scream and drop to the ground. He opened his eyes to see Kadaj holding the sides of his head, tears of pain streaking his face. His eyes were flashing between black and green, and Cloud could see the struggle he was going through in his mind. Kadaj slowly and shakily turned his head toward Cloud, one eye black, the other green.

" Help...me..." He whispered in his own voice. The silver haired man stared at him like a child who was being beaten, and indeed JENOVA was giving him quite a mental and physical beating right now.

"How?" Cloud just stared in shock at the younger man.

" Destroy me... Now... While you have the chance... Kill me!" Kadaj gripped his head harder, his teeth clenched together to the point that the blonde was surprised they didn't shatter.

' Do it! Remember what I told you!' Sephiroth yelled.

' You seem to like the thought of death again.' Cloud suddenly felt the rage coming from the other presence in his mind. He could tell that by bringing up what Sephiroth had done before, he had managed to enrage him.

' You know very well I was under the same influence he was... Don't you dare compare me now to the monster I was... The only way to stop this now is to kill him!' He was practically snarling in Cloud's head.

Cloud stared at the now sobbing man in front of him. No. Not a man. A BOY. He hesitated with delivering the fatal slash to him; this boy hadn't even had a chance to live. He hadn't even had a chance to grow up and live a happy life. If he ended his life now, Kadaj would never see any of the good things life had to offer...

He lowered the sword to his side. He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill him. "I can't..." Cloud said shamefully. "I can't kill someone like him... I can't have someone else's death be my fault... Aeris... I let her die... She could have lived. She could still be here with us now... It was my fault that I couldn't protect her!" Cloud felt warmth sting his eyes and a few drops of salty liquid flowed down his face.

' Then I'll do it.' Sephiroth took over his body. "The blood of one more person isn't going to stain my soul any more than it's already been stained." He said aloud, swinging Cloud's sword down at the crying teenager below him.

' NO!' Cloud resisted Sephiroth, and kept his sword from striking.

' WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!' The ex-general yelled, as Cloud fought, gained control of his body again, and started to run.

Cid regained consciousness around the same time. He groggily lifted himself to his feet, staring around. He saw Cloud running, Vincent still laying there, and Kadaj in a

"What are you fuckin' whining about?" He groaned, rubbing his head.

"We... need to... leave..." Vincent struggled to his own feet.

"I thought that damned traitor got some Rhino Stinger virus in you or something?" The pilot leaned on his spear, ignoring Kadaj and staring in bewilderment at Vincent.

"The JENOVA cells in me countered the GeoStigma virus. One with JENOVA cells in them, is a part of JENOVA, and therefore the parasite cannot infect itself." Vincent stated simply, his smirk hidden beneath his collar.

" Alright, whatever. We should catch up to Cloud, before he fuckin' ditches us." The two nodded at one another and ran to the best of their abilities after their friend.

' YOU BECAME WEAK!' JENOVA scolded Kadaj in his head, striking pain through his body.

' I'm sorry... I...' The young silver haired man whimpered.

' DO NOT FIGHT ME! YOU WILL KILL CLOUD!' She screeched, regaining control of his body. He stood, the hollow look returning to his face.

Fortunately for the ex-members of AVALANCHE, the pain he had gone through was too much for his body, and he blacked out.

The motorcycle being driven had since run out of fuel to power it. Yazoo and Tifa had become stranded, and though they knew where they were, they had no will to really move on at this time.

As they speechlessly sat around the lame materia made fire Yazoo had constructed for them, Tifa decided to take the time to notice his wounds.

" You're hurt." She stated, breaking the silence. He looked up at her emotionlessly, and she looked away shamefully. Tifa turned a slight red as she realised how foolish and obvious her statement had been.

He didn't say anything. His response was a simple grunt, and he lowered his gaze back to the fire he had been staring at.

"So... Where do we go from here?" She asked.

He stayed quiet, narrowing his eyes at the dancing flames in front of him.

"Ok, you don't want to talk, I get it." Tifa sighed.

"I will take you back to your friends. Then, I will leave."

" Marlene told me to say hello to you."

" Hmph." He grunted again, looking away.

" What's wrong? You seemed to like her enough the other day."

"I... Never mind. It's useless talking. Get some sleep, you'll need it." Yazoo glared at her, and the look gave her chills.

"No, go on. I'm curious." She tried smiling at him, but his gaze only hardened. Her expression changed to fear from the intensity of his anger. "What did I do?" She asked, her voice shaking slightly.

Upon not only seeing, but also feeling her fear, his own expression softened. His eyes changed from green, to yellow, and his voice became less of a growl. "You did not do anything. I am merely... Thinking about other things..." A green tinge returned to his eyes, his pupils narrowing as he looked away yet again.

"Kadaj and Loz right? You're thinking about them, and what you and Loz were told..." Tifa's sympathetic look urged him to respond.

" ...Yes..." He whispered, looking back at her.

"Why are you upset about that so much?" She asked. "About being an... experiment I mean..."

" Because." Yazoo's eyes turned a deep purple colour. "How would you feel, if you were created in some glass tube, for nothing more than the viewing pleasure of the world around you? What do you think it's like, being told you were created unnaturally, and cast aside as a failure? I was supposed to be... a super clone of the one known as Sephiroth. My creator assumed, that as the second of his creations that his technology was perfected, and I would take in my first breath of air as a stronger, smarter and better version of SOLDIER's precious General. However, to their disappointment, I was weaker than that of their first creation. Even now, compared to Loz and Kadaj I am physically weak, even though I am stronger than a normal human from mako... The only reason I was kept was supposedly because my brain advanced past that of Sephiroth's, and they thought I would be of use."

Tifa seemed shocked that such an amount of words had just poured out of him, and was even more amazed as he continued.

"Loz was a failure, because although he had been born with greater strength than Sephiroth, his mind never developed like it should have. He is emotionally weak, and can over-react to things." He added to his explanation. "I was created to be emotionless, uncaring of those around me. No matter how hard they'd tried in the past, they could never create a specimen that felt nothing, that only focused on what it was tasked to do. I was no different. Upon my creation, I came complete with a weak body, and feelings towards those around me. I had apparently almost died when I was first released from my glass prison, due to the frailty of my body, but they sustained my life because of my mind, only to reseal me in my prison again..."

"How do you know all this? Did Kadaj tell you?" The woman was shocked that he had suddenly recalled so quickly what had happened to him.

"Once I was told of how I truly came to be, my memories of those events were recollected. It is the way my mind was created to work: once I was told of my true beginnings, I would have a chance of growing insane. Since this was unwanted I was lied to. Kadaj was lied to. Loz was lied to. We have all been mislead in our lives. I don't even know if these memories are true, for all I know I could have been created with a mind full of lies..." He had managed to maintain eye contact with her for the entire time, and although she blushed from his gaze, he hadn't noticed.

What she had noticed was that his eyes had gone through a rainbow of colours while he had explained all of that to her.

" Yazoo..." She said his name softly and sadly.

He cocked his head to the side, indicating he was listening.

She rose from her place across from him and sat beside him. Tifa was surprised that he didn't at least move away from her. Instead he simply looked at her.

His expression changed to shock as she hugged him tightly, laying her head on his chest. Yazoo was unaware of what he was supposed to do.

' I somewhat... like what she's doing... By putting her arms around me, she has made me feel better... But how? Is this what humans feel when they are embraced like this? Do they feel this... strange feeling?' He thought, clearly flustered. He returned the embrace and she looked up to see his eyes go from yellow to blue, his pupils becoming larger.

Then she was completely taken back by his next expression: a smile. Not just a small, friendly smile like he had given Marlene; but a warm and happy looking smile.

For the rest of the night, she put her worries of her friends aside slightly and she fell asleep to the sound of his heart beating, taking in both the warmth from the fire, and his warmth.

' She's listening to my heart...' He thought. Then his happiness faded. ' The sound of your synthetic heart. It's pathetic enough that you're even showing feelings toward this woman, let alone opening up to a human.' The voice of his creator echoed in his head. Yazoo knew it wasn't real, that this voice was only he putting his own self down, but he listened anyway. ' You're fake, not even good enough to hold her in your disgusting arms. If you let yourself love her, you'll only be that much more of a failure.'

Yazoo growled lowly and picked Tifa up. Quickly extinguishing the fire with an Ice materia, he walked off to take her back to her friends, unsure of how to deal with his mixed feelings right then.

A/N: There. I updated. So this chapter isn't too great, oh well. My eyes hurt from staring at the screen so this is the best I'm doing for now. I also apologize if it seems mushy. I myself am not too much of a fan of mush, but I tend to accidently write it. If it's that bad, I'll just re-write it. Oh well, please R&R! I appreciate any reviews received!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

" They've all been gone for like a day, what happened to them?" Yuffie whined, concerned for the absence of her friends. She was busy helping Barrett and Nanaki tend to the orphaned children upon the airship.

"Beats me. They coulda gone anywhere for all I know!" Barrett grumbled.

" Daddy, when will Tifa, Cloud, and the nice man come back? I really wanna see them... And Vincent and Cid too! Do you think the nice man will bring his brothers? I wanna meet them!" Marlene was restless, as were the other children, all anticipating Cloud's arrival.

A few children were playing with Nanaki, who would occasionally let the smaller ones ride on his back. He told them stories of his kind, and kept them thoroughly entertained for quite a while.

Yuffie tried her hardest to keep up with all of the children's pleas for food and such. They were all bored, and every one of the people on the High Wind at the moment was concerned for Cloud, Tifa, Cid and Vincent's safety.

Barrett paid attention to all of the children, not just Marlene. Though he seemed to direct the most attention to her, he played games with all of the children.

Trouble broke out very quickly though, as Barrett had managed to lose a watchful eye over his 'daughter' for a moment, and she snuck away as fast as she could. The man was in a panic over her absence and Yuffie and Nanaki tried to calm not only the frantic children, but their friend as well.

"I don't give a fuck what Cloud said for me to do! I'm goin' out there to find Marlene!" And without further discussion Barrett had left to find her, leaving Yuffie and Nanaki with a handful of panicking children.

" Should we... you know... go after him?" Yuffie asked the red creature in front of her, a dumbfounded expression on her face. She didn't look too much different now, just a bit older. Nanaki chuckled slightly, a low growling noise to anyone else. Her attitude hadn't changed much either; she was still as hyper and oblivious as always.

"No. We should let him go... He'll be back with the girl soon. She went to go find Yazoo, Tifa, and Cloud, whom I sense are fast approaching. We have to stay here and care for the little ones right now." He said simply. "Alright everyone!" His tail swished a bit as he spoke to the younger people around him. "It's about time you all got too sleep. It's late enough already!"

The ninja simply shrugged and went to work helping the handful of children get tucked in on the hard floor under some blankets they had brought.

Yazoo had been carrying Tifa for quite a while now, and though she was incredibly light, and it wasn't much of a burden, he decided to set her down and stop to sort the mixed up thoughts in his mind. The silver haired man laid her on the ground very gently, and sat down beside her cross-legged.

Tifa shivered slightly in her sleep, causing Yazoo to realise just how cold it was out. He sighed and took her into his arms once again, hoping that there would be enough heat from his body to keep her warm.

' It should not be too much farther until we reach her friends.' He thought. ' Still, all of these thoughts in my head, and this strange new feeling... I need to think things over carefully...' Yazoo was driven out of his train of thought as the woman in his arms stirred.

Tifa looked up at the expression on his face, and frowned. "What's the matter?" She asked groggily, placing her hand on her head slightly.

" Nothing, I simply stopped for a moment."

" Stopped? I thought we were..." Her dark eyes scanned the area around them and she realised it was different. "How did we get here?"

"I carried you. The sooner I get you home, the quicker I can leave." He muttered coldly.

"Why do you want to leave so badly? You seem in an awfully big hurry to just drop me off somewhere." She gave him an angry stare, and he sighed.

"Tell me. Do you humans have feelings different from myself?" He ignored her question and commenced his own.

"I don't know. What do you feel?"

"That is just it. I do not know what I am feeling." Yazoo let the dark haired woman fall out of his arms and he stood, walking away slightly.

"Hey! That wasn't very nice!" Tifa stared up at him, a glare coming from her eyes.

"What... does love feel like?" He asked suddenly. His voice was soft, and his tone like that of a child questioning an elder of sorts.

Tifa was taken back by the question. Unsure of how to explain it, she tried her best. "Love... feels... warm. Like a blanket that's always wrapped around you in darkened, cold times. When you love someone, you can't help but enjoy that person's company... You feel connected in some way, like there's something that ties you together... They make you feel happy, just being there. I... don't know how else to explain it... I guess, you can just tell when you love someone..." She blushed, explaining such a topic.

He turned back, cocking his head to the side curiously. "I see." Then, Yazoo quickly turned to his original direction, hung his head and continued walking.

"Hey where are you going?"

"Come. We have to get you back to your profane friend's little airship." He gestured with his hand for her to follow, continuing his morbid strides.

" Yazoo..." She got up and darted over to him, grabbing his gloved hand.

Surprised that she had actually made it over to him that fast, and by the fact that she was holding his hand he stopped. Staring down at her, he quickly withdrew his hand from her grasp. Tifa looked shocked, but suddenly realised why he had done so. He removed one of the black leather gloves, and with the pale hand produced from it, reached forward and grasped her hand.

She blushed furiously as the man knelt down, closed his eyes, and kissed the delicate flesh on top of her hand. It was the only sign of adoration he had been taught, and although he had mainly used it as a sign of respect to his superiors before he was sealed, he felt it was the only gesture he could use to express the feeling in him.

Yazoo looked up at her, eyes blue, with the same warm smile on his face that he had worn earlier. He stood once again, his hand not letting go of hers, and he began to walk once again. She followed; shy to be holding hands with him. There was no conversation for the next half an hour or so. Tifa was felt too awkward to say anything, and Yazoo was occupied with caressing her hand with his pale fingers.

" TIFA!" A tiny voice cried out. Yazoo let go of her hand as Marlene ran up and hugged the older woman with all her might. "You're okay! Where's Cloud? And Cid? Oh, and what about Vincent?"

Tifa's expression became glum, and she hesitated for an answer. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't find an answer. "Marlene! What are you doing out here?!" The woman suddenly cried, realizing in her groggy state how the girl had just risked her life to find them.

Marlene looked over at the tallest figure. "You came back!" She hugged him as well. "Did you bring your brothers? Do you know where Cloud and them are?" She seemed awfully cheerful.

" Marlene... We don't know what..." The woman began, in a low shaky voice, as she remembered the situation she had left her friends in. Marlene suddenly lost her cheerfulness, and began to look awfully upset. Her eyes were a bit teary.

Yazoo cut in, kneeling down so he was relatively equal in height to the little girl. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Do not worry, Marlene. Strife, Highwind, and Valentine are fine. They should be back in just a little while."

She looked up at him. "Really?"

"Yes. Kadaj and Loz I sense are preoccupied. They will not harm Strife or any of you friends in their current state. In fact, I sense your friends are fast approaching, they should be here in an hour or so." Yazoo stated softly.

"Your brothers would harm Cloud? But... why?" The little girl had a look of worry on now, and she didn't seem too happy.

"They are not my brothers..." He glared to the side slightly, but transfixed his gaze back to the little girl with a calm expression. " Let us not get into that right now... It is time both of you got to the airship and slept."

" MARLENE!" Barrett's voice called out loudly as his large form was seen running towards them. "THERE YOU ARE!" He picked his daughter up. "You had me so damn worried! Don't you ever go runnin' off like that again!"

"I'm sorry papa, but I wanted to find Cloud, Tifa, Cid, Vincent, and the nice man... I was worried about them." She said sadly.

" That's ok darlin', but you had me worryin' ta death! You're startin' ta take on after that spiky ass!"

Marlene pointed to Yazoo. "He said Cloud, Cid, and Vincent would be ok..."

Tifa finally cut in, to correct the little girl gently. "His name is Yazoo." She whispered.

" Sorry..." Marlene said to him, feeling silly for not knowing his name earlier.

"It is alright." Yazoo had since risen to his feet after Barrett had picked her up.

More voices could be heard in the distance, and over the horizon the four of them could see a slowly approaching Cid, Vincent, and Cloud; the latter with his head hung.

"I understand! You couldn't fucking kill the guy! It's not your fault. Killin' someone who hasn't done no wrong is pretty hard..." The familiar voice of a certain airship pilot echoed into the night.

"Don't feel bad, Cloud. Sephiroth may not understand you right now... But I do. It's hard to kill someone that's young..." Vincent's low voice could faintly be heard.

"Why couldn't I do it? The planet is still endangered and it's thanks to me!" Cloud sounded upset.

" Cloud!" Marlene cried out, and the three approaching men looked around a bit before catching sight of their friends and the experiment up ahead.

They quickened their pace to meet them. Cloud walked up front.

"Kadaj is still alive." He stated dully.

"Kinda figured that from what you'se were sayin'." Barrett grunted at him.

"Hmph. I don't wanna talk about it." The blonde continued on his way towards Cid's ship.

Without any further conversation, everyone else followed him quietly. Yazoo strayed towards the back of the group.

"What are you doing back there, ya fuckin' garbage!" Cid joked at Yazoo.

"Shut up, pilot. I have no use in your pathetic conversation." He growled, eyes turning an emerald colour, as both his pupils and his eyes narrowed.

"Hey at least I function at my job. I'm a working pilot. You're a failed experiment!" Cid laughed at him.

Yazoo felt fury building up inside of him. His eyes became red, and he raised his voice. "And how would YOU know? Were you there upon my creation? No? I didn't think so. I suggest you shut your mouth, if you want to live Highwind." He grasped his gun blade's handle.

By this time, everyone had stopped and was staring in shock that they would actually fight right now. Marlene shrank back behind Barrett and Tifa, looking at Yazoo in a whole new light.

"I know, because of your pretty little tattoo on your hand." Cid spat.

Yazoo looked down, realising he had been carrying his glove in one hand, and had it off the other. He stared at the black printings on his un-gloved hand. Then he looked back at Cid.

" Funny. Your tattoo ain't a number like the rest. What the fuck is that supposed to mean anyway? Looks like some funny wing thing."

"Stop your arguing!" Cloud hollered. "No one is in the mood for it, so shut up."

Yazoo gave one last cold glare to the pilot who laughed at him, then they began walking again back to the High Wind, all of them decently tired from the day that had passed.

A/N: Once again, I apologize for ending it like that but I hope it was good. Review please!


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Loz awoke from his unconsciousness, and rolled over onto his stomach. He groaned as he felt pain in his entire body, and wasn't surprised to find even more pain as he used his arms to pick himself up. Now on his knees, he surveyed the area.

Strife and his companions had since disappeared. He was unsure of whether or not to assume them dead or assumed they had fled from death. He quickly made his judgement as being the latter when he saw what he had once thought of as a brother laying on the ground before him. Loz felt his strength slowly returning to his body, and he stood, walking over to the younger man.

Looking around once more, he saw that his vehicle was gone, and that JENOVA's head lay on the ground where it had once stood. He slowly limped over there, his Dual Hound glowing with an aqua light.

' JENOVA, you bitch... You're the cause of all this...' He thought bitterly, gathering more power in his weapon. "You bloody parasite! DIE!" Loz drove his metallic arm with extreme force into the head. The force from the explosion not only left a crater in the ground below, but also sent him flying backwards.

"Fool... You have only made your problems worse..." The calamity's voice limply poured from the unconscious Kadaj's lips. "By destroying the head with such an explosion, you have managed to unleash GeoStigma into the air! Soon, many humans will be taken from the face of this planet, combining with the precious Life Stream that will soon be mine!" A wicked laugh escaped the younger creation's mouth, and Loz decided it was definitely a creepy sight.

He turned his head to face the crater he had just scarred the Planet's surface with. A small dent, but it was going to a lot of damage in the long run. He watched as a misty, blue light emerged and spread itself into the air, fading out and becoming one with it. Loz realized what he had just done, and a horrified look passed over his face as he thought of so many people losing their lives because of an outburst he had. He tried to shake off this feeling, but he couldn't help but feel concern for these pitiful creatures that had been called humans. The oldest of the three creations didn't quite understand why he had been having these strange emotions lately, ever since he had been told by Kadaj of his true beginnings.

Many memories he had never had before surfaced in his mind. For the time being, Loz sat there on the dirt ground to think about these things. Out of the three experiments, he had always been emotionally weak and susceptible to outbursts; whether they be of anger, sadness, happiness, or anything he was feeling. Right now confusion radiated from him, and a deep sadness at the thought of destroying so many lives. It had never before bothered him to kill, so why now?

His thoughts were abruptly end as the other figure began to stir for real this time. Kadaj opened his once emerald eyes to expose the ugly hollowness they had become. It was then that Loz noticed how ghostly pale his companion was.

More thoughts raced through his mind. ' How is JENOVA inside of him? He, like Yazoo and myself, all have JENOVA cells in our bodies, thus giving us our healing ability, but how is he channelling her? How long have you been hearing her voice? Kadaj, have you truly been lost to her?' He questioned in his mind. From the beginning, Loz hadn't agreed with Kadaj's sudden want for this 'Cloud Strife's' death. He had wondered what it was that had possessed him to become so violent all of a sudden. Of course that was then, and now he had realised that the young man was being controlled by the parasite itself.

Kadaj began to slowly walk his way, picking up his bloodthirsty Souba as he progressed towards Loz. The older man barely had a chance to think any further before the double bladed sword was pointed at his throat.

"We should kill you know..." The possessed man hissed. "But... You did a good thing... You've spread the virus for us..." Kadaj sliced the right blade down Loz's chest, smirking as a trickle of crimson flowed out of the cut. "We will let you live, for now."

Loz looked up from his position on the ground at his so-called 'Master', whom was slowly walking away. As he clutched his chest waiting for his minor wound to close up, he rose to his feet again.

"Come. We will wait a few days and watch them. It should be intriguing to see them struggle with GeoStigma..." The double voice of the young man said wickedly, and he let out a low laugh; on that sent chills down the spine of the shorter haired man.

Loz followed, knowing full well that if he didn't obey, he would be killed. The thing he noticed to be the most strange, was how he suddenly felt unwell. Figuring it was nothing; he shrugged it off and caught up to his slow moving 'Master'.

"Are they gonna be alright?" Marlene asked in frantically. She as well as everyone else were becoming worried.

That morning, they had awoken to find a good portion of the children, as well as Tifa, Cid, and Barrett succumbing to a strange illness. The affected children were mainly unconscious, but when they did awaken were hit with a wave of nausea. Normally this would not have been so alarming, but the strange part was none of them could move from their neck down.

The adults that had been affected showed the same signs as the children, only they hadn't fallen unconscious. Cloud and Yuffie had tried to help their friends with cure materia, but none of it seemed to help. Nanaki pondered on what was wrong with everyone, as Vincent suddenly felt the need to interrogate the silver haired man who stood in the corner.

Yazoo stood in a corner of the main room in the airship. His long silver hair was covering his eyes, but the glow from them shining through revealed to anyone who bothered to look that his now purple orbs were focused on Tifa.

"They have been inflicted with GeoStigma. And no, I do not know what to do for them." The man answered before Vincent had a chance to speak.

"Did you do this to them?" Vincent's ruby red eyes narrowed at him in suspicion.

"How could I have? I do not have any thing with which to inflict it upon them. Even if I did, do you think I would?"

"You seemed to have an easy enough time jabbing your little 'trick' into ME."

Yazoo gave an arrogant snort. "I knew you were part of the JENOVA project fool, I already knew full well you would not be harmed by it."

"So you're saying we could trust you?" The former Turk asked monotonously.

"Of course. If I wanted to kill anyone here, I would have undoubtedly done that already."

"I think we've carried on a conversation long enough. We should probably help the sick." Vincent turned his head to see the rest of his friends trying to help all of the affected people. Any children that were well were told to stay away from anyone who was affected by this illness, so they stayed on the other side of the room. "One more thing; you have a thing for her don't you?"

"For who?" Yazoo was taken back by the question.

" Lockheart. You seem attached to her."

"I..." The man hung his head, refusing to say any more. "I do not feel anything for humanity. I am incapable of love or emotions."

"Keep telling yourself that." Vincent said morbidly. "Keep it up and you'll regret it. I once loved and still do love a woman by the name of Lucrecia. Even though I could never have her, I do not regret ever telling her how I felt. A part of me feels sorrow, but another feels well just knowing that she knows how I feel. You shouldn't hide your feelings for someone."

Yazoo nodded at him, giving him a look of sympathy. "But I still have no feelings to hide. I was created, anything I feel is fake. I could never offer someone my false affections."

"But they aren't fake!" He looked down to see Marlene looking up at him. "If you love someone, it's for real! Tifa likes you a lot, and you like her right? So tell her!"

The silver haired man was bewildered that a child could even state something like that. As if she knew anything about love... Or did she? He felt warmth in his face, and he realised he was blushing.

The little girl giggled as Vincent walked away to aid Cloud and Yuffie. " You're blushing, Yazoo!"

"Come on." He sighed, picking the girl up.

"Hey! Put me down!" She laughed and threw a false struggle in his arms.

"I will aid Tifa, but you need to stay clear of anyone whom is affected." He set her down with the other children whom were well to play.

Everyone, including Yazoo turned abruptly as Yuffie cried out suddenly. She slumped to the floor, the illness taking over her, knocking the ninja out. She had become deathly pale like every other sick being in the room. More and more of the children were beginning to grow pale, and cough.

The only people who seemed unaffected by this were Yazoo, Cloud, and Vincent, all of which were presumably injected with JENOVA cells. This meant that they were immune and the three of them worked at getting any unaffected children to a different area of the ship.

Vincent and Nanaki watched over the children in the other room, while Yazoo and Cloud helped everyone else to the best to their abilities.

"Don't you two go damn well worrying 'bout me..." Cid forced a weak smile at them. "What... are you going to do, make me some fuckin' chicken soup? Make sure the children are ok..."

Cloud nodded as the pilot drifted into unconsciousness.

"Make sure Marlene is alright..." Barrett managed to say before falling unconscious with Cid, Yuffie, and Tifa.

Yazoo was at Tifa's side, one of her now pale hands in his. His other hand was caressing her forehead gently. She had a high fever, like the rest of them, and the temperature of her flesh shocked him when he had first touched one of his ghostly hands to her. He had taken his gloves off earlier, which meant he occasionally had to stare at the tattoo that had been scarred into his flesh as an ugly reminder of what he was.

With a small groan, the dark haired woman stirred. Her brown eyes had a glaze to them, an effect created by the virus. Tifa stared at him, and smiled weakly.

"Are you... feeling any better?" Yazoo asked softly, moving his hand from her forehead to wrap around the hand he was already holding.

"A little... Yazoo... Is everyone else... ok?"

Yazoo hesitated for a moment, and then nodded, knowing it was best not to alarm her of their sickness. He knew full well that putting her into worry would only further her chances of not being able to survive this.

"I'm glad... they're ok..." She stopped, dampening her lips slightly with her tongue. "Yazoo..." Her lips were shaking, and tears were forming in her eyes.

"What is it?" He cocked his head to the side slightly.

"I'm... Scared..." And with that she drifted into her sub-consciousness once again.

He couldn't think of what to do now, but noticed her shiver even with the fever she had come up with. The silver haired man went from his sitting position to stretching out alongside her, pulling her into his arms. Yazoo closed his eyes and drifted off slightly with her.

Cloud had long given up hope on being able to help anyone recover with curative materia, and turned to trying to keep them blanketed and covered up. He gave a quick glance to Yazoo and Tifa, but kept most of his attention focused on the children and his other friends. Once in while, Vincent would come up and aid him with making sure there was no loss of life.

At the moment he was alone, and talking in his mind to Sephiroth, who had been quiet for quite a while now. The ex-general seemed irritated with him for earlier still, but was willing to give him a soul to talk to.

' What are we going to do? These people are all sick!' He cried frantically in his mind.

' Do not worry. Loss of life amongst you will be minimal. And if you think this is the only affected population, think again. Anyone within the ruins of Midgar and a hundred mile radius around it will start to succumb. You need to stop JENOVA as soon as possible.' Sephiroth was fairly calm, but Cloud sensed an anxious feeling in him.

The blonde noticed an absence of noise beside him. He looked over to see a child next to him had stopped breathing. He took one of his gloves off and placed his hand on the small boy's neck. There wasn't even a slight pulse from the vein.

' He's dead." The man in his head stated simply, and Cloud felt a sudden grief and nauseous feeling in him.

It was then that he knew they were dealing with a lot more than they had bargained for.

A/N: There! I updated as fast as possible! Once again, thank you for all of the reviews! I'm glad people are actually enjoying this Hope this chapter was ok... R&R!


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

It was only late evening, and the death count had rose to five. Five of the younger children succumbed to the illness and fell into the darkness of death's eternal sleep. The loss of the three little boys and two girls had greatly upset Cloud, as well as anyone who happened to be awake.

The four remaining healthy adults and children were in a panic. Nanaki stuck to keeping the children who weren't affected as of then away from anyone who was. Cloud and Vincent cared for anyone who was living, and Yazoo stayed by Tifa's side.

Seeing them in this situation greatly amused Kadaj, and he grinned wickedly while surveying his prey from outside the High Wind. Loz was right there with him; both of them watching the death unfold from a window near the cockpit room that the sick were being held in.

Loz wasn't at all happy about the chaos, and even seemed sad when the small humans had lost their life. Kadaj glared at him for his weakness in emotion, but he boldly ignored it.

"How much longer are we going to stand here? This airship isn't exactly a soft surface for me to stand on for hours..." The older man whined, daring to actually sit on the surface they were situated on.

His possessed 'leader' glared down at him, but spared him for now. He spoke in a low voice. "We will watch them suffer a while longer, retrieve the traitor, and finish off Strife and his little fools for what they have done soon enough." He gave a wicked grin, revealing his teeth were all fang-like from JENOVA's influence, and reared his head back to let out a menacing but low laugh.

" Aren't there other people suffering from this virus? Like the citizens in the small villages around Midgar's ruins?" Loz asked anxiously.

"Of course. And our precious GeoStigma will continue to spread and claim more lives..." The younger of the two said almost gleefully.

"I see..." Hanging his head, Loz watched with remorse as Cloud and Vincent were digging five small holes outside of the ship, the bodies of the dead children lying on the ground close by. He was broken from his observation from the snarl he heard Kadaj release.

" Traitor..." He hissed, staring at Yazoo through the window. " I'll make sure to claim the life of that girl he has become so protective over."

The elder of the two spying men stood to once again join in staring through the window. Loz remembered his fight with the girl, and how he had broken her leg on the church altar.

Both watched as a small girl approached Yazoo and Tifa. She shook the silver haired man bit, and he stirred, turning to face her.

Marlene stared at the man sadly. "Five of the people have been killed by the GeoStigma, Yazoo. I'm worried about Papa, and Tifa as well as everyone else... Will they be... ok?" The little girl started to cry, and caused him to snap out of his groggy state. His yellow eyes widened with concern, as he made sure not to disturb Tifa while he rose to a sitting position yet again.

He looked around the room a bit and noticed the absence of a few children, before he returned his gaze to her. "You should not be in here Marlene, the virus could get to you."

"You didn't answer... They... aren't gonna be ok are they?" She hugged the older man tightly, burying her face into his chest. She looked up at him with her teary eyes and spoke again. "Papa... Tifa... Cid... Yuffie... My friends... They're gonna die, aren't they?" Marlene's soft voice cracked, and she started to sob some more.

"I..." Yazoo started but stopped. He placed his arms around the little girl, and picked her up to take her out of the room. "I do not know... You should not remain here, your friends... Your father... They would not want you to suffer GeoStigma."

The girl cried still, but slightly calmed from the rhythm and movement from his footsteps. "You... You want me to suffer from it?"

"Of course not. I am concerned for your well being just as much as anyone else here. If I did not care I would not be removing you from danger, right?" Yazoo even managed to surprise himself with his choice of words.

Marlene nodded, and continued to whimper on him as he moved her with the other children whom hadn't been affected.

.........................

Cloud and Vincent had just finished digging the fifth and last hole. Both men picked up the children and lay them in their respective graves. A small prayer to the planet for the safe guidance of these souls to the Life Stream from each man, including the man inside of the blonde's mind, before they got to work covering each body up.

"Hmmm... What about markers?" Vincent pondered aloud, looking over at his black-clad companion.

"We'll place different coloured stones by them for now. It's the best we can do; we must tend to the others now." Cloud gestured to the ground, signalling that they would now search for the multi-coloured stones.

Vincent nodded and began searching the dirt below him, unaware what was going to go on in the ship above.

..........................

By this time, Kadaj was beginning to agree with Loz that some form of attack should be made. His face suddenly lit up from its hollow, bored look, to a look of malice.

"We know what we should do..." He whispered menacingly, a smirk growing on his face. "We will go in there right now, take the woman and the girl that our little traitorous whelp has become attached to, and demand he come with us if he wants them to live. That way, we can force him to slaughter those he cares for! Ha! Think of the torture it will put on his mind!"

" Alright. So what do we do, just smash on in through this window?" Loz gave him a false grin.

"Yes... That is what we will do." Kadaj laughed as both men smashed through the window before them, startling Yazoo, whom was watching the sick people amongst him.

Nanaki, whom was in the other room hadn't heard the crash, since they had been sure not to make it too tremendous. Not to mention he was preoccupied having his ears focused on the whining and noisy children, so a crash to him was nothing more than Cloud or Vincent dropping their shovel outside.

Marlene had heard it and wandered into the room to see if Yazoo was alright. Making her way quietly, while tiptoeing, she peaked around the corner of the wall and gasped.

Yazoo had his gun blade drawn and pointed, and was snarling in the direction of two more silver-haired men. She was startled by the resemblance the three of them had to one-another, and figured these must be the ones whom he had once thought of as brothers.

" Yazoo... What's happening?" She managed to ask.

He turned his head slightly and looked at her through green eyes. "Get back!" The man snapped at her, and she was once again startled. Like most children, she was upset at being yelled at like that.

"Well, well. So our little traitor made some friends... Looks like you've weakened and found your self getting attached to these pathetic creatures. How pitiful... Pitiful indeed, Yazoo..." Kadaj laughed at him, causing the small girl behind him to shrink back.

"What do you want?!" The second oldest of the three growled furiously at them.

"We want you, the little girl, and your whore over there." The possessed man gestured to both Marlene and Tifa.

" Never! Do what you want with me, kill me if you have to, but leave these people alone!"

"Don't worry, killing you will be a pleasure later. But unless you abide by our terms now, we'll kill them both." Souba was now drawn, and in it's masters grip.

Yazoo didn't hesitate to charge Kadaj with his gun blade, sparks flying as the two metallic objects collided. The younger man simply gestured to the eldest, and in a flash, Yazoo was being held off the ground by his throat by Loz.

"Now, now... Which one to kill first... She looks young enough to have her blood stain the floor, come here!" The JENOVA controlled maniac grasped Marlene by the wrist and held his double bladed sword to her throat. "Now Yazoo, will you abide by our terms..." He applied more pressure to the Marlene's throat. "Or... Will you watch her die?"

Now beginning to lose consciousness from lack of air, Yazoo choked out the words to the best of his ability. "Fine... I accept..." Instantly, Loz's iron-like grip on his neck released, allowing the man to drop to the floor with a thud. He panted on the floor and glared up at Kadaj, the long silver hair almost completely covering his now red eyes.

Regaining his breath quickly, he stood. "Bring them along if you must... As long as no harm comes to them..."

"Now that's the big 'brother' we used to like..." Laughing psychotically, Kadaj sheathed his sword and tossed Marlene to Loz. He then gathered Tifa up in his arms, just in time for Cloud, Vincent, and Nanaki to burst into the room.

"What the hell is going on?!" Cloud cried, grabbing his Buster Blade from its spot where it had leaned on the wall. He pointed it at the three men angrily, ready to put up a fight.

"Why, you didn't know? Yazoo here is rejoining us, and he decided to bring along Marlene and Tifa for some fun times." The shorter haired enemy sniggered at the blonde.

" Yazoo, is this true?" Nanaki growled, his claws ready to rip flesh.

Yazoo nodded, and put on a false smirk. "I have lied to you all along. Now we have what we need. Farewell fools!" The three dashed towards the entrance and exit that Kadaj and Loz had created earlier. Cloud dashed after them, only to watch in horror as they all dared to leap from that height.

The three intruders managed to land gracefully on the ground below, Kadaj spitting on one of the children's graves and laughing as they took off into the forest nearby.

"TIFA! MARLENE!" Cloud screamed.

"He was lying Cloud. Yazoo isn't joining them, I saw through that lie. They've e forced him somehow." Vincent muttered. "I can guarantee you both of them will not be harmed."

"Let's hope so..." Nanaki stared at the disappearing figures on the horizon.

...........................

After having left Tifa in the abandoned church with a man in a wheel chair whom Kadaj him was Sephiroth, Yazoo was forced to go with the other two men to the small village. Kadaj had decided it was the most populated area that would be affected by GeoStigma, and wanted to cause a raucous there.

The three men had brought the girl through the two-year old ruins, after a day's travel of just getting there. It was about three hours before they actually reached the civilized area, and the sight of people gave Marlene a spark of hope. However the hope ran dry as people scattered every which way from her and the men she was with.

" People, calm down! We are here, simply to inform you... To bless you with what we know..." Kadaj said, JENOVA's voice disappearing, and his eye turning to their green colour. Although he looked normal, it was easy to tell he was still under her parasitic influence.

Marlene had decided that under the darkness of the semi-night sky, the young man looked especially creepy. She let out a slight cry as Loz grabbed her shoulder roughly and would not let her go, despite her useless struggle.

One person stopped, and paid attention to him. Then another, and another few. Very shortly, a decent sized crowd had wearily gathered to hear what this man had to say.

"My people... I apologize for our attacks much earlier. GeoStigma is spreading amongst you, a deadly virus to cope with..." The little girl noticed he was talking in first person again. She then quickly looked over to Yazoo.

His eyes were still green and he was glaring off at no one in particular. He suddenly darted his eyes in her direction, taking notice of her distressed look. Yazoo could only give her a look of sympathy, knowing there was nothing he could do that wouldn't guarantee her demise or his own. To avoid feeling any worse for his actions, he simply looked away from everyone and stared to the side.

" As you may know, my companions, Yazoo..." He gestured to his right. " And Loz..." He gestured to the left. "retrieved JENOVA's head from an old Shin-Ra lab a while ago. Our intentions were good, contrary to what you might think, but a man by the name of Cloud Strife ripped the head from our possession, and used it to unleash the virus that plagues you all now! He is the real enemy! Former citizens of Midgar, you've seen it happen before! The great General, Sephiroth was once your 'hero'; look at what he became! Strife is no different- he must be stopped before all life is lost!"

Marlene noticed the commotion amongst the crowd and it seemed as though some of them were buying it. She felt a need to defend Cloud, and she tore out of Loz's grip. Stepping in front of Kadaj, she yelled to the people. "CLOUD ISN'T THE ENEMY! DON'T LISTEN TO HIM; HE'S A BAD MAN! HE..." The child was cut off as an infuriated Kadaj grasped her and drilled her into the ground with a hard throw.

The pain from the landing caused her to cry, and Yazoo instantly scooped her up to comfort her.

"What are you? Some kind of child abuser? 'The hell is wrong with you?!" A man roared from the mass of people. Marlene's statement and Kadaj's actions had caused an uproar from the people, and many of them made a foolish move to try and attack him.

" Useless plan I see this was..." His eyes returned to their black state, and his voice became double again, as blue beams erupted from his hand and took the lives of about twenty innocent people. " Yazoo... Loz... If you will?" Both of his companions nodded grimly.

Drawing their gun blades, both began firing at people. Loz had taken out about five people in a matter of seconds. Kadaj noticed out of the corner of his eye, something that infuriated him once more. The older experiment had something wet leaking from his eyes; tears. Was he truly feeling remorseful for taking the lives of these pathetic humans? Was he truly becoming just as weak as his other companion?

Yazoo held onto Marlene with one arm and fired off-aim on purpose. He hadn't hit a single civilian, and the girl noticed he seemed to be aiming most of his shots at street signs or lights.

The three men turned and headed out of the town, none of the people bothering to stop them as they made their way back to the old church.

...........................

Cloud attached the Buster Blade to its magnetic sheath on his back. Doing up the armour on his shoulder he got ready to head out on his own. He made his way over to the airships real exit, but not before bidding his conscious and unconscious friends farewell. It might've been, after all, the last time he would get to see them before he made his move.

But he had made up his mind. These men wanted his life. JENOVA wanted his life. And if it meant the fate of the world, he was ready to give it all up for just that.

...........................

A/N: Meh, crappy chapter I know... Cut me some slack, at least I'm updating and actually plan to finish a story! That's rare, believe me... --; Hope you all enjoyed this one, like I usually hope. Review please!


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Kadaj sat outside of the small church, taking freely to himself aloud. He seemed to be having an all-out conversation with someone in his mind, and Loz, Yazoo, and the now conscious Tifa were ignoring him.

Loz had stopped his 'cruel act' from earlier, and now appeared less frightening to both Tifa and Marlene. With Kadaj out of the picture for a while, he had become a lot more humane towards the two.

Yazoo was sitting on the wooden floor cross-legged with Tifa propped up against his body for support. He showed concern for her when she had awoken, but she seemed more focused on Loz. Her fight with him not too long ago was forming a fear of him inside her, and the woman seemed uneasy in his presence.

Loz sat a decent distance from the two, with Marlene asleep by him. He still carried out conversation with them, as the distance was only so Marlene would be away from illness.

"So... What do you suggest we do? About getting these two to safety?" The eldest asked, clearly at a loss for how to keep them out of Kadaj's way.

" Pretty soon, we are going to have to bring Kadaj down... Somehow, we must assist Cloud in defeating him and the parasite inside him." Yazoo said calmly, the woman in his arms looked up.

"You mean Kadaj is...?"

"He has been completely overtaken and driven insane by JENOVA. In order to save him, and rid the entire planet from GeoStigma, Kadaj has to be destroyed..." The man holding her looked towards Loz.

"I have a pretty big feeling that something bad is gonna happen if we take him on, Yazoo..." The older mans expression grew grim.

"Tifa, listen to me." The long silver-haired man turned his attention towards her, and she listened intently. "I sense you are, strangely enough, recovering the illness slightly. You seem to have regained some mobility... I am glad. However, later there is going to be a battle. Do not interfere, no matter what happens. I will try, but I may not be able to protect you then..."

"You don't have to protect me..."

" Listen to me." He reached out with a pale, un-gloved hand and touched her face gently, his eyes becoming a cross between purple and blue. She realised he was feeling both happiness and sadness at once, as he continued. "You are the first thing in my life that I have managed to develop concern for. I care a lot about you, Tifa, even though I do not know how to express this feeling very well. I was created to have certain instincts, and one of the only things that registers to mind for something I... love... is to protect it with my life."

" Yazoo..." She blushed, trying to speak, but his finger was gently placed on her lips to silence her.

"Today Loz, your friend Cloud, and myself may die today along with Kadaj. Do not raise the possible death count to five."

"You won't die... Promise me you won't..." Tifa was once again succumbing to the wave of unconsciousness that came with GeoStigma. She was only half conscious at this point in time, and her voice was just above a whisper.

"There can't be any guarantees. What Yazoo says is true; we have a chance of losing our lives. JENOVA isn't going to go down without taking people with her." Loz narrowed his eyes upon saying the parasites name.

" Loz is right, I am afraid... I am sorry Tifa, but I cannot promise that I will live through this." She looked up at him teary-eyed, before passing out.

Both men knew now was the time if any to get away from Kadaj and join what had once been their main target. Loz gathered the sleeping girl into his arms and Yazoo picked Tifa up gently. The two exchanged glances before taking off out an 'alternate exit' the eldest of them created with the Dual Hound. They travelled swiftly on foot, knowing that the noise they had just created would surely cause alarm to their JENOVA infected 'master'.

And indeed Kadaj had heard the noise. He stopped in mid-sentence to listen, his silver pupils narrowing. A vicious growl escaped his pale lips as he stood.

"They got away! You should not have left them, FOOL!" JENOVA's voice screeched from his mouth, and a shockwave of pain surged through his body as punishment. "It doesn't matter. Let the fools run, we'll kill them later my puppet..."

A part of the young man, who was now on his knees, wanted this all to stop. This monster controlling his body was going to destroy not only himself, but also a lot of other people. The want for destruction and death he had felt earlier was fading, though now there was nothing he could do. His body and his mind were this creature's now, and he felt he was no longer Kadaj, but JENOVA itself.

.......................

Cloud had been wandering for a number of hours towards the ruins of Midgar. He knew full well the clones would have gone there; not only was it obvious, but the ex-General in his head felt their presence.

However, even though it was them he was searching for, he knew full well his true enemy wasn't Yazoo, or Loz, or even Kadaj. He knew it was JENOVA, and this time in order to stop her he was prepared to take anyone's life to stop the parasite from causing further death. But not only had he prepared himself to kill; he had prepared to be brought to an end as well.

Cloud knew that upon taking on someone with Kadaj's current power, there was a massive chance he wouldn't come out alive. This was going to be an intense battle, and he could already feel the loss of life that was going to occur.

He stared at the dull horizon ahead, knowing in an hour or so he would see the ruins of the once great city that meteor had reduced to wreckage. The sun was setting over the grim landscape, and storm clouds could be seen pushing their way into view. A low growl of thunder signalled Cloud to walk faster, and reach his destination quicker. The atmosphere was morbid, and grew even more so as the sky slowly darkened.

Something unusual came into view. People, far up ahead, and they were running. Running in his direction. Cloud noticed these figures had also caught sight of him, and were steadily quickening their pace toward him. He didn't need the light or a clear view of these people; he knew they were his enemies.

Yazoo and Loz were approaching at an almost insane pace, and now it was visible they held their hostages with them. There was no sign of Kadaj, which almost gave Cloud a feeling of relief. Almost; but he knew deep down that Kadaj was the one he WANTED to be there. After all, that was the one whose life it was necessary to remove from The Planet.

However, Sephiroth's presence in his mind calmed, and he realised the once great hero sensed no threat from their oncoming 'foes'. Cloud stopped in his tracks to allow the silver haired men to approach him.

" Greetings, Strife." Loz nodded at the blonde, obviously slightly winded from running.

Yazoo came to a halt next to the older man, setting Tifa down for a moment. He regained his breath quickly before speaking. "Be on your guard, he will find us soon..." The man muttered, pushing some of the silver hair out of his eyes that had fallen there.

"I don't understand... Are you... Helping me?" Cloud cocked an eyebrow at the two experiments before him.

"Yes. Kadaj needs to be stopped, and we will be here to help you stop him. I wish Loz, Kadaj and myself could have met you and your friends on better terms, Cloud. Not only have the three of us caused you and your companions trouble, but we have also doomed The Planet." Yazoo knelt by the unconscious woman, hanging his head in shame.

Loz nodded and began to speak. "Yazoo and I have been rapidly having memories since Kadaj told us of our true beginnings. We were never intended for such destruction, but were intended to serve the same purpose Sephiroth was... To protect mankind... To protect The Planet... Not annihilate it. We are unsure of what we truly consist of, but we know we were intended as super clones of the great General. When it was known that Sephiroth himself could pose a threat in the future as he grew, we were sealed in glass tubes until recently..."

"We will carry out what we were intended to. We will fight for the sake of The Planet, even if it means death." The younger of the men before Cloud said softly. "I thought you also may want to know, Tifa has almost completely recovered from the virus. She must not have infected as bad as the others... When she next awakens, she will be able to move, but will be very weak." Yazoo placed his gloved hand on her forehead, and gently pushed back the dark locks of hair that covered it. He leaned forward and picked up her hand, pressing his lips to the flesh on the back of it.

The three men all sat on the dirt below them, and remained in silence until Marlene stirred from her sleep.

Yazoo looked at Loz quizzically, cocking his head to the side. She had been asleep since that morning in the church as well as partially the night before.

"When we were about to leave, I put a materia spell on her to keep her quiet while we took off. Wouldn't want her getting Kadaj's attention any sooner than we did."

The longer haired man nodded thoughtfully, before turning to the little girl.

"Where are we?" She mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

" Marlene... We need to get her somewhere safe..." Cloud though aloud.

"Loz, take Marlene back to the High Wind, then return here. We will wait for Kadaj and fight." Yazoo gestured toward the child.

"What about Tifa?" The older man inquired, picking the protesting girl up

"I wanna stay here!" Marlene cried, fidgeted in a futile effort to escape the mans hold.

"Yazoo is right, Marlene. You need to be safe. We'll be back, don't worry." Cloud made his best current attempt at a smile.

"Tifa will remain here, out of view. Kadaj will be preoccupied with us, and will not harm her. Go, quickly, and get back here as soon as you can." Loz nodded at Yazoo, and ran with the same immense speed he had earlier.

Tifa awoke almost moments after their departure. She sat up, surprising herself that she could move again. However she quickly laid herself back down, when she felt the weakness in her body.

"The virus seems to be subsiding more and more. She should make a full recovery." Sephiroth suggested out of Cloud's mouth, catching the blonde off guard.

"Why are we here? Where are Marlene and Loz?" Tifa suddenly became worried as she mentioned the young girl.

"Loz has taken her back to the air ship with your friends. He will return shortly to aid us."

She looked at Yazoo, and then another worry passed over her. "Is Kadaj... coming?"

Both men nodded grimly, and her eyes widened. She used every ounce of strength to sit up.

"Here." Yazoo offered her a hand and helped her to her feet. She instantly fell into his arms. Lifting her up, he walked over to a small ruined building he assumed would have once been a house. He kicked the door in swiftly, and walked inside. Laying her down on the floor, he leaned over her smaller form. "You will remain here. No matter what you hear or what may happen, stay here. I do not want to see anything happen to you." He kissed her hand gently and caressed her cheek, before rising and turning to head out.

"Yazoo..." Tifa whispered his name as he paced away from her. He stopped at the frame of the broken door.

He turned his head in her direction, his silver hair covering most of his face. The darkness coming from the building and the outside world allowed her to see nothing but a glowing flame blue eye that was transfixed on her. Their eyes stayed locked for a moment that she wished would last forever, and the next words from his mouth she heard, Tifa hoped to hear again.

"I love you..." She could feel the soft, sad smile he was giving her as the delicate words escaped his mouth. Yazoo continued out the door, and back out to join Cloud.

Tifa had been speechless when he said that. She wanted to rush out there into his arms and tell him she felt the same, but the weakness in her body wouldn't allow it. Something deep inside her told her she was going to live her life in deep regret for not being able to go after him, as she heard the commotion rise.

A gunshot tore through the air and echoed into night, as well as a thunderous clang of metal. She knew Kadaj had arrived, and that a fight had commenced.

Cloud stood his ground, Buster Blade locked against Souba's dual steel blades. Kadaj forcefully shoved him back, and Yazoo fired at his former companion. Kadaj merely held his sword up, and the bullets clanged off it, falling harmlessly to the ground.

Swinging ferociously, steel hit steel as Cloud and Kadaj exchanged swordplay. Their deadly metallic dance continued, the storm in the background brewing with lightning illuminating the battlefield once in a while.

"You think because you have backup Strife that you can bring us down?" Kadaj smirked at him, delivering a swift slash to Cloud's shoulder after parrying the Buster Blade. "We will kill you all!" The younger man snatched Cloud by the neck, and threw him to the dirt. He pointed Souba at him, his face half covered by shoulder-length, silvery locks. Kadaj's mouth twisted into a hideous, hate-filled smile as he hissed. "You are a traitor."

Just as he was about to impale the blonde man's throat with his wicked sword, a bullet caught his chest, and he fell back. Yazoo stood, pointing the Velvet Nightmare at what he had once thought of as a younger brother, his own look of hatred overtaking his features.

" Yazoo!" Tifa suddenly found the strength to move herself. She got to her feet and staggered towards the door. Forcing her aching body outside, she made her way over to them as quick as possible.

"Tifa, what are you doing?!" Yazoo looked her way in shock.

" Yazoo, don't fight him..." She fell only a metre or so from the ruined building.

" Another one? Do you intend for us to make a bloodbath of your friends so soon?!" Kadaj narrowed his eyes at the woman.

"Tifa, get back! Don't get in the way!" Cloud hollered at her, but was met with the possessed mans foot ramming into his side. He cried out as he clutched the now bruised area in agony.

"Shut up! We'll kill her as well!" The silver pupils in the man's black eyes became slits as he crooked his head in her direction. The grip he had on his sword tightened and he dashed at her.

"Leave her alone! She has nothing to do with this!" Yazoo yelled at him, charging and letting his gun blade meet Souba. Sparks flew from the two metallic objects, and the two struggled with each other's strength.

Tifa watched them push on their weapons, shocked that they didn't break from such torture. She noticed the intense force of both Kadaj and JENOVA was gradually pushing Yazoo back. By then, it was obvious that if the Velvet Nightmare didn't give out, then the man wielding it surely would. He gritted his teeth in frustration as he pushed harder with all his strength on Kadaj, knowing full well it was hopeless. His opponent took this moment to stop toying, and simply gave a harsh shove that hurled Yazoo into the cold ground below.

" Pathetic." He muttered. "You want to defend this human, yet you're not even strong enough to stand your own ground."

Tifa now knew that with both Cloud and Yazoo lying on the ground in defeat, that she had to escape. She had to hide, but just as she tried to crawl away, Kadaj turned his attention to her.

"Tifa Lockheart... Your time is now." He sneered at her, and it slowly contorted to his familiar, disgusting smirk. He walked over to her, pulled his blade back, and lunged forward with the point for her heart.

Everything seemed to slow down. A million thoughts ran their way through her mind at once, and she knew it was the end.

' But it doesn't feel like the end for me...' She looked up just in time for her gaze to meet the tips of Souba's blades. When her gaze focused on what lay beyond the shining, red and silver metallic mess in front of her, she was greeted with a mess of black, silver, and red.

Yazoo fell to the ground, landing on his knees, the blades ripping from his abdomen to his chest. He gasped slightly, as he felt the pain surge through him. It wasn't quite what he had expected. He lifted his head icily to glare at Kadaj, his eyes now fading from a mix of red and green, to a glossy white.

The man looming over him simply ripped the blade from his body and stared at him with amusement. "Fool." He hissed. "You could have kept your life."

He felt the support keeping his body on his knees give out as soon as the metal was removed from his torso. He slumped over face first.

Tifa could do no more than let out a scream. She rushed to his side, ignoring the weakness in her body completely. Using all of her strength, she rolled him onto his back.

" Yazoo..." She managed to choke, fighting a hopeless battle with the tears in her eyes.

" Tifa... Tifa I am sorry..." He coughed slightly, and a thin river of blood made its way out of the corner of his mouth.

"Don't die... You can't... Not yet..."

"I told you... I could not promise... Forgive me... I have served my purpose; I helped mankind to an extent... I gave my life so you could keep yours... Knowing that you will live makes me happy in death... Do not worry, I will remain with you... Even if I cannot attain a physical form... I will be here..."

She took a deep breath, avoiding breaking into sobs. "I love you Yazoo..." Tifa threw her arms around his body, and he put his around her. She laid her head on his chest feeling the short, shallow breaths of air and the slow pulse of his heart.

A faint tinge of blue stained his now almost white irises, and he smiled a weak, gentle smile. "I love you too... Good bye Tifa..." His voice trailed off, eyes becoming white.

"No..." She was beginning to shake as sobs threatened to rack her body.

His breathing slowly came to a halt, and she heard the weak pulse of his heart slowly fade. His arms now hung loosely around her, one limply rolling off as she convulsed with heaving sobs.

One last breath of air escaped his mouth, and his head rolled to the side slightly. Yazoo was dead.

........................

A/N: Please do not kill me... I know for SURE no one enjoyed this chapter, but at least stick around for the last chapter, pleeeease? Sorry about the length of time it took me to post, I was kinda tied up on last minute touch ups to my Aeris costume for the Anime Convention in Toronto. Forgive me for killing Yazoo, he's like my favourite character, so you can at least know I suffered for writing that. ;;


	17. Chapter 17 Part One

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

"He was a fool for getting in our way." Kadaj ignored her sobbing and hissed at her. "Now you'll meet the same fate. See you in hell whore!"

Another clang of metal sounded, adding to the crash of thunder that made its way through the background. Loz knocked Kadaj's sword out of his hand. He had arrived just in time to see what he once considered a brother slaughter the only other person he had seen as family. With a growl, the elder of the two trudged toward his now bitter enemy, Dual Hound pounding against his other hand as a threat.

" You've done enough you bitch. You won't be taking any more lives!" Loz lunged at him violently at an insane speed. Still shocked from being disarmed like that, Kadaj was caught off guard and was hurled backward, his body crashing into another small building. Loz stared at the dust and wood fragments that flew, and watched the ruin as the debris settled. Soon he stared in silence, the only sound being his breathing, and the rolling of thunder in the distance. He felt a droplet of water fall from the sky and hit him, and he averted his attention to wiping it off.

Before he could react, the building erupted in blue light as Kadaj flew at him, grasping him by the throat and lifting him inches above the ground. " How dare you defy us?! You ignorant fool! You'll all die!" The young man was screaming, fury radiating from his blackened eyes.

Sweat beaded down his forehead as Loz struggled to break free of Kadaj's grip. His fight was useless as JENOVA only forced Kadaj's slender, gloved hand to tighten around his neck.

"You bitch... You will die... There's no way you could take this Planet as your own... You're no more significant than any life in this universe... Which means you have no right to slaughter so many... Release him... Release Kadaj!" He choked, flailing in the constricting grip.

"That is what you think!" JENOVA's voice cried from the man holding him. "I will never release him... And if I did, he would only die! Is that what you want?" She forced the hand around his throat to give a gentle push on the side of his neck.

"I'll kill you!" Loz reached for his gun blade, but in one swift movement, Kadaj's hand jerked.

Cloud and Tifa both heard the disgusting sound of bones splintering and snapping. Hurling him to the ground, Kadaj laughed as Loz slammed into the now muddy ground. Rain beat down on his limp body, and his awkwardly bent neck. The younger man had just snapped his neck like a twig, and the eldest lay on the ground dead before him.

......................

Cloud stared in amazement at how Kadaj had just finished off both Yazoo and Loz. Tifa had managed to slowly drag Yazoo's body to the ruin she had hidden in earlier while Loz had fought, her body being covered in the man's blood in the process. She would be safe for now, noting how Kadaj was busy laughing over the death of his former 'brothers'.

' How could he do that... They were like his family... His loved ones... and he just murdered them like they were garbage...' The blonde spoke in his mind.

' That is the influence of JENOVA. If it wills you to do something, you do it, regardless of how you feel. It is uncontrollable.' Sephiroth explained to him.

' I don't understand... Why is JENOVA like that?'

' In a sick and twisted way, JENOVA is doing the right thing. It is a parasitic life

form, that feeds off the life energy of a planet in order to help it's own kind. That is what it was born to do, and this planet happened to be it's target.' The ex-general droned on in his mind, unsure of how to put it. ' It does what it needs to in order to survive, even if it means deceiving and lying... Even if it means murder...'

Both men contemplated this. A million memories rushed into Cloud's mind, flashing in his head like pictures. Not only his memories, but also Sephiroth's as well. Thoughts of JENOVA lying to Sephiroth, promising to show him love as a mother... Promising him acceptance... And then forcing him to slaughter for its benefit. JENOVA had manipulated both of them, and in the end messed up both of their lives. A memory of JENOVA controlling the clone of Sephiroth to impale Aeris, bringing her innocent life to an end... Another flash of Nibelheim, and how JENOVA had manipulated Sephiroth to burn it to the ground even from a distance... Cloud had watched his hometown burn to the ground that day, and Sephiroth had been thrown unwillingly into a mad conquest of death.

' I don't care if it's doing what it had to...' Cloud thought.

' It isn't necessary for it to destroy everything...' Sephiroth added to his words.

' No lives should be lost... It is unnescessary for it to take all the life from one planet... Our planet...'

' No one had to die for the parasite to feed... With all the lives it has extracted from the face of the Planet... JENOVA should die as well...'

" JENOVA!" Cloud yelled, his voice now a combination of both Sephiroth's and his own. He could feel the ex-general's mind completely melding with his, truly becoming one with him. "THIS ENDS NOW!" He grasped the handle of his sword from the ground, the silver blade gleaming momentarily from the flash of lightning that tore across the dark canvas above them.

" Ahhhh, both of my former puppets wish to stop me..." The parasites voice poured out of the silver-headed man's mouth as he turned to them. "I knew you were there all along Sephiroth, I am not a fool."

"I don't care what you know! Your life will end now, along with the others you have ruthlessly taken."

One final time, Buster Blade met Souba with incredible force. With their combined might, Sephiroth and Cloud smashed one of its dual blades, which clanged the ground. The other part of the sword flew from the smaller man's hand as he was gripped and thrown on top of it.

With his eyes flickering between green and black, Kadaj started to regain control. His eyes widened in pain, as the realization that he had one of the blades of his sword through him came into effect. Kadaj stared at the blonde man towering over him, and spoke in his own soft voice. "Do it..."

Emerald eyes clenched shut, and the Buster Blade tore the flesh in his chest. Both Cloud and Sephiroth twisted the blade, until they found the pulsing organ they wanted. Knowing this was for the sake of the Planet, the blonde thrust the sword across Kadaj's heart, tearing the organ in half. No sooner had he drawn the blade, and the silver haired man lay in a mess of his own gore, life drained from his body.

Cloud closed his eyes as he felt the ex-general's mind separate but stay within his own. "It's over..." He murmured softly to himself. "JENOVA is dead."

' Don't get your hopes up too high...' He saw blue light starting to pour from Kadaj's body. An orb of the aqua light floated in front of them and then flew upward. Three long beams of the same colour shot from the light, and into Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz's bodies.

The corpses levitated slightly, being forced to float upright. Tifa stared in shock and made her way out of the ruin, as she watched the three dead men draw closer together. When they were just touching shoulders, and beneath the orb, their eyes flew open, glowing aqua like the ribbons of light attaching them to it.

JENOVA's voice rang out in a wicked laugh as their bodies glowed intensely until they were nothing more than blue light themselves. They came together, melding with the orb, and reshaped into a new form.

The thing was at least a good twenty feet tall, looming above the small buildings around them. The flesh of the monster was blue, and was covered in many scale-like growths. Its limbs were long tentacles, thick where they were attached, and thin and whip like near the ends. The most peculiar thing about the creature was its head, or lack of one at least. It had a wide set of jaws in the middle of its narrow abdomen, lined with fangs and dripping with saliva. Cloud noticed the jaws that it had on each of the ends of its tentacles, and also made note on the fact that the monster had no legs. JENOVA's new body ended stump-like, but somehow remained mobile. It loomed over him and released an inhuman howl that sent chills down Cloud and Tifa's spines. "My revenge is now Strife! You will die!"

Cloud felt his mind melding once more to Sephiroth's, both of them struggling with the JENOVA cells in his body that threatened to manipulate him. He gripped the handle of his sword and pointed it at her, his voice becoming two and he yelled. "It's the other way around, JENOVA! You are the one who is going to suffer! The Planet takes it's own revenge now!"

Furiously, he ran at JENOVA, swinging the Buster Blade at her with all his might. This was it, he had to either kill or be killed.

' And for the sake of the Planet Cloud... You had better kill...' Sephiroth thought grimly to himself.

......................

A/N: HAHAHAHA! TWO-PARTER ENDING! MWAHAHAHA! I'M EVIIIIL! Nah, I'm not, I just thought the ending required two parts. Again, very sorry about Yazoo... And by now Kadaj and Loz... But... you'll see! Mwahahaha. Stick around for the last part of this un-epic tale! HAHAHAHA! Too much sugar... Too much tea... Epic. Haha, that's a funny word. Hope you enjoyed the beginning of the end... Mwahaha. Oxymoron.... Actually the only moron here is me. Ok, I'll stop babbling and write the next part... Ahh, yes... And thank you all for the reviews!


	18. Chapter 17 Part Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, or any of their characters.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

JENOVA flung one of its whip-like tentacles at Cloud, only to have him dodge it. Both Tifa and Cloud had an uneasy feeling as the ground shook and dirt was thrust upward from where the monster had hurled its limb.

' How do we destroy this thing?' The blonde man asked in his Sephiroth-infused mind.

' I honestly have no idea. I assume that our combined strengths will be enough to at least hold her off...' Sephiroth, with his mind now fused with Cloud's, was completely clueless on what they were going to do.

' You better be right!' Cloud yelled in his mind, running forward at the towering creature in front of him. The Buster Blade made a connection to the tip of a tentacle, and tore through the hideous flesh.

Blood spilled from the wounded limb, and both men gained a ray of hope. Their victory was short lived however, as the fragment merely re-attached itself to JENOVA's slightly gored body.

The parasites voice rang out in a laugh as the tentacle lashed out once more to bite the man in front of it. Its fangs tore into his flesh, letting a trail of crimson flow down his right shoulder where it had clamped him. Both Cloud and Sephiroth's voices cried out in agony as another tentacle attached itself, and then another. The small jaws of the awkward looking mouthed tentacles began to grind at the man's flesh, sending a searing pain throughout his body.

In a fury, Cloud slashed at the attacking limbs and sliced them off, causing the biting jaws to fall off limply and reattach themselves to their former body. Blood trickled out of his wounds as he stared up at the monster in bewilderment, just in time to have its abdominal jaws snap at him. He moved as quickly as possible out of its path, receiving only a slight tear to his leg from a jagged fang.

Tifa watched in horror at how JENOVA toyed with him, planning to slowly kill him, and regain its cells by devouring his body. Cloud was indeed struggling to destroy JENOVA, and with the fact that JENOVA had just knocked him to the dirt like he was nothing, it became apparent it was a struggle he was going to lose.

" Cloud... Please don't die... I couldn't bear to lose anymore..." Tifa choked softly from her pale lips. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face stained with tears, as she continued to stare at the battle in front of her.

Cloud and Sephiroth cried our for the second time that night, being thrown mercilessly into the ruin Tifa had chosen to take shelter in. The force of the throw caved the weakened roof in, and dust, wood, and weak concrete fell to the ground. The woman was lucky that none of it hit her, but the relief was brief, as she realised Cloud wouldn't have the strength to break free from the rubble.

A black leather gloved hand reached out of the ruins, and both Cloud and Sephiroth used all of their power to pull Cloud's weakened body from it. Slumping over onto a wooden board, they glared at the monster before them intensely, determined to make it pay.

Weakly, using both of his hands, he pointed the Buster Sword at the now laughing JENOVA.

"You fools! Don't you understand?! You cannot defeat me! I have the power of the Cetra with me! There is no way to kill me!" It screeched in its hideous voice, saliva dripping from each of its many mouths.

"We'll see about that, BITCH!" Sephiroth suddenly separated from Cloud's mind and took over. Cloud was too shocked form the sudden change to fight for control, and let the ex-general fight.

The blonde, now Sephiroth's to control, continued a deadly dance with the beast, hoping that somehow, they would find a weakness... A hope he knew would never be fulfilled.

Yazoo was frozen. He couldn't move. He couldn't breath. But strangely enough, he found that there was no need for air. Struggling with his frozen body, and the blackness about him because he couldn't open his eyes, a sudden realisation hit him hard.

' I am... dead...?" And no sooner had he realised this, did he realise something else. ' If I am dead, then surely I cannot move by physical means... Perhaps... I must move myself mentally...?'

He focused on movement, and sure enough, he felt himself stand from his laying position. Slowly Yazoo let his eyes flutter open, hoping that at the very least there would be light...

Nothing... Blackness... Yazoo was surrounded by the same darkness he had been just moments ago. He expected his mind to be filled with confusion- maybe even fear- but all he felt was some sort of knowing.

Slowly, a soft green glow began to brighten, and he turned himself to its source. He found it easier to move himself now, and his gaze met the wispy green substance that lay behind him. Yazoo's eyes widened in shock and his mouth dropped slightly.

"The Life Stream..." His soft words echoed within this massive void. He glanced around at the rivers of green, turquoise, and soft hints of many other colours in front of him.

A few of the brighter strands weaved their way quickly to his left, and Yazoo watched them, forcing his gaze to fall over to another figure.

' Perhaps this is not a void after all...' He thought, as his yellow eyes met Loz's yellow-green ones.

" Yazoo!" The shorter haired man dashed toward him, and stopped a few feet away. "You're alive!" He said exasperatedly, a grin crossing his features.

"No... We are dead..." Yazoo replied monotonously, the grim thought re-entering his head.

Loz looked slightly shocked to hear those words, but it clicked into him pretty fast. "I guess Kadaj broke my neck back there..." He raised a hand to touch his throat, and he rubbed the spot that had been gripped. Strangely enough to him though, there was no pain. " So, are we stuck in the Life Stream?"

"I do not know... I have heard that it absorbs souls and reincarnates them... That or sends certain individuals to some 'Promised Land'. I am unsure of what will become of us..."

"Well that... sucks..." Loz stated, and noticed his comrades eyes roll at the childishness of his choice of words.

_Do not worry my children... Soon it will all end... Soon the Calamity from the skies will be no more... _

Both men looked around them, shocked at the soft voice that had just rung out. The elder of the two decided to yell out to it. "Who's there?! What do you want?!"

A soft, gentle laugh echoed around them, and the voice began again.

_I am The Planet... You are my children, and soon you will fulfill your purpose, and save the lives of many...Aeris... Show them...I will wait for the third... Then, peace will reign..._

Yazoo and Loz saw the blackness around them fade. It grew more and more white around them, and soon it began to fade into something else. The two men found themselves in a field of flowers. The many sweet fragrances from the different varieties toyed with their senses, and both stared in wonder.

Neither noticed that they no longer wore black, and proceeded to look around at the endless plants. Yazoo wandered over to a small rose bush and knelt down. He noticed his change of attire when he reached out a no longer gloved hand to touch one of the delicate petals, and saw a white sleeve. He looked down at himself, and no longer saw a black trench coat.

Loz had noticed the same thing when he saw Yazoo wander over to the flowered plant; both of them were clothed in long white robes

Yazoo was wearing the long white robe, and it reached to around his ankles. Like his trench coat before, the collar went up to his chin although it didn't have the zipper that ran up the middle of his former garment. The sleeves were long, and partially covered his hands, the opening at the ends being wider the sleeve itself. A blush crept across his pale face slightly as he realised that he no longer felt the fabric of his pants underneath the robe, making him wonder how it was even possible to blush in death. He did however feel a soft pair of boots that went up to just below his knees, which unsurprisingly were white as well. Yazoo didn't mind wearing the robe; in fact he found it quite comfortable. What he found awkward was the feel of something extra on his back, a weight that wasn't there before.

He looked over his shoulder to find his gaze disrupted by white feathers, and he stared for a moment in fascination as he stretched and folded the wings on his back a few times.

Loz found himself doing the same thing with his newfound wings, being clothed in basically the same thing as his companion. The only difference their attire held was the fact that like the elder of the two's old outfit, it was open at the front around the chest.

"You two like them don't you?" A cheerful voice suddenly called out. Both men immediately snapped out of their child-like state of amusement, to turn their gaze toward a pink-clad woman with long brown hair. They stared at her in questioningly, Yazoo ruffling the feathers on his wings slightly.

"You must be Aeris, like that voice stated earlier." Loz spoke out to her. "You were a friend of Cloud's, right?"

The woman nodded, spreading her own pair of white wings. "The Planet brought you here for a reason... Do you know why?"

Loz and Yazoo exchanged glances and then looked back confused. Both shook their heads gently, and Aeris responded by making a gesture with her hand to come closer. The men walked over to her, and found themselves kneeling as they reached her.

" JENOVA may have erased your memories after your reawakening..." Aeris reached out both hands, her index and middle fingers touching their foreheads. Her fingertips began to glow with a white light. " You were told that you were meant to be super clones of Sephiroth... You believed you were nothing more than failed experiments... You weren't failures at all..." She smiled, as she let their true memories flood back into their confused minds, pushing away any of JENOVA's created thoughts. "The Planet created you, to protect it at this time. You weren't products of Shin-Ra Inc... You weren't Sephiroth clones... It's true, you weren't human... Yazoo... Loz... You and Kadaj are Cetra... Let your true memories reawaken, the time has come for you to carry out your real intentions!"

The memories flooded their minds, and they felt the lies being washed from their thoughts rapidly. This woman was telling the truth to them, and they had the memories to prove it. Aeris took her hands away, a soft smile forming on her face.

"You remember?" She asked them.

Both Yazoo and Loz nodded at her, rising to their feet. She stared up at them and then she closed her emerald eyes.

' Planet... Is he there?' The half Cetra questioned the voice in her mind.

_Yes... It is only a short time before he awakens... Then the three will stop the Calamity... Soon my daughter... Soon my sons...It is almost time..._

The Planets voice reached all of their ears, but this time it wasn't a shock to the men. The three of them simply stood and waited, a gentle breeze blowing by in the field.

Kadaj stared at the Life Stream flowing around his laying form. He had already figured out how to move his body, but he chose not to. The thought of how he had just caused so much devastation before death kept him from trying to go anywhere. A few tears leaked their way from his eyes, and he began to cry softly. He didn't bother to wonder why he could cry even though he was dead, and moved his entire body for the first time. Kadaj curled up into a ball, and let his emotions rush out of him in the form of sobs.

Strands of his silver hair clung to his face, now wet from the fluid flowing out of his eyes.

"Why?" The young man choked from his dead, unphysical self. "Why was it me who had to kill so many people? Why did I have to make so many lives suffer? I'm evil... I don't even deserve death... I deserve eternal suffering for what I've done... Why, Planet, has The Life Stream not dissolved my soul into nothingness?"

_Child, the Calamity used you to create havoc on my surface... You were never meant to do such things... But it could not have been prevented... Your mind was weak... You knew not of your true past, and thus the Calamity found it fit to use your body for her work... After all, it had less power than that of a Cetra...Who better to use than a Cetra?_

Kadaj's eyes widened. His tears continued to flow from his emerald, cat-like eyes, as he looked around fearfully for the source of the voice. He knew, however, that it was futile. Not only did the voice seem to come from all around him, but it was inside of him as well.

" Who-Who's there?" He whimpered in between sobs.

_It is good that all three of my children are ready now... Kadaj, you are my son, a Cetra... You were born straight from The Life Stream, not from the glass of a test tube... You were never clones of Sephiroth, but rather beings of your own. Your memories were falsely burned into your mind by the Calamity... Do not worry... The time has come for her to be extracted form this world..._

" Cetra... I am no Cetra! I'm a monster, created by humans to protect them, and I destroyed them! I've doomed their race, and the entire planet!" Kadaj cried out at the voice, and the wisps of The Life Stream began to swish around him. A few green strands of the mako energy made their way to his forehead, and they passed through, filling him with his true memories.

_Kadaj, you are my-The Planet's- son. A Cetra, born directly from me, whose purpose was indeed to defend mankind and myself... And you will do so, now that you remember who you are... Look at yourself...Your wings have spread, and your true form has been revealed..._

He looked down to see the white robes on him, the only difference from Loz's and Yazoo's, whom he hadn't seen, was the fact that the collar was open to the top of his chest. He felt the weight of feathers on his back, turning his head to see the wings on both sides.

The blackness began fading to white, and then a flowery field, where he saw Yazoo and Loz standing with what looked like a young woman, both of them having undergone the same changes. He walked, taking long strides over to them, anxious to be with them once again. Kadaj nodded at the woman whom he recognised as Aeris, even though he had never seen her before.

"With your memories you have probably regained the thoughts of what you must do... JENOVA took your bodies, and most likely doesn't realise that you can still control them. Kadaj... Yazoo... Loz..." She looked at each of them. "Each of you is now a part of JENOVA's body... A part that you can take away..."

The men before her nodded. She fell to her knees and clasped her hands together in prayer, chanting something in a strange language that Loz and Yazoo seemed to catch onto quite fast.

Kadaj watched the eldest of the two men kneel down by Aeris, and he joined in her chanting. Yazoo watched them for a moment and then he knelt as well by the brown haired woman. He chanted the strange words in this foreign prayer, and the young man noticed a weak light on both Loz and Yazoo's hands beginning to glow brighter.

He knew he had to pray with them... But what if all he did was doom The Planet again. Kadaj looked toward the ground below him in shame, unable to carry out what he was supposed to do.

' What if I'm not the right one? What if..."

_You are a Cetra... Pray my son... Pray for Holy... Take your place with them and call upon Holy...The Calamity will be stopped and peace will reign... _

Kadaj nodded at the voice, and knelt down with Yazoo and Loz, completing the triangle they had seemed to form around the woman. He clasped his hands together and began chanting the strange, but familiar words silently.

The four voices repeated their words in unison quite a few times. Kadaj noticed that the light that had found its way to his hands was coming from a small, white orb that Aeris was holding. It glowed brilliantly in her hands, as did the once weak light on theirs. He and his two brothers were almost startled when they heard many more voices that seemed to come from all around them join in. The light began to grow brighter, and more and more voices began to call out.

He realised these were the other Cetra, and that Holy was taking effect. Soon, through his now closed eyes, the young silver headed man could see the light making its way from his hands to the materia in Aeris', and to both his brothers. As if Kadaj had been mentally instructed along with all of the other voices, their chanting stopped.

He opened his eyes to see the light had made it nearly impossible to see, but he could make out the figures of many other men and women. Their appearance didn't frighten him, but rather made him smile. He looked at Yazoo and Loz to see warm smiles on both of their faces directed at him.

_It is over now... The Calamity's reign of terror ends now..._

All three men, along with Aeris and the other Cetra watched as the brilliantly glowing white orbs flew from her hands and into the air. The light completely engulfed everything, blinding them all for that moment.

Cloud and Sephiroth let out a cry as the blondes body hit the ground with a sickening crack. They stared through his eyes, bloodied and broken. Barely able to even force a glare at the creature, both men realised this was the end. They were going to die now.

"You should've made this easier for yourselves..." JENOVA hissed, somehow rushing forward at Cloud, jaws salivating and snapping violently.

Tifa screamed and Cloud braced himself as he felt Sephiroth lose control of his body.

Suddenly, JENOVA stopped. Both individuals stared at the monster, which had just frozen dead in its movement. It glared at them, growling as a white light began to leak from it.

The light suddenly poured from its mouths, its eyes, and through cracks that were forming on its body. A glowing white split began to make its way down JENOVA's forehead, light spilling from the opening.

The parasite howled loudly and inhumanly, pain rushing through every square inch of its being. It felt itself being split forcefully apart, and true to the feeling in its body, it shattered.

Cloud and Sephiroth stared through weakened eyes as the parts of JENOVA's body began to be swallowed up by the light, and it screamed in agony as it was torn and dissolved violently by the light of Holy. The blue light that remained from the parasites mind tried to fly from its doom, but was also engulfed in Holy's merciless light.

The screaming stopped, as JENOVA was completely absorbed. The white light faded and there was nothing. Silence, except for Cloud and Tifa breathing, and the rustle of wind through the ruined area.

Cloud felt his strength return, as well as Sephiroth's presence strengthen; Holy had rekindled their energy before vanishing back to its place in the Promised Land. He rose to his feet, as did Tifa. With JENOVA gone, GeoStigma also disappeared, allowing the woman to walk as if nothing had happened. She and Cloud stopped and stared at where the monster had once stood. The creature that had caused them so suffering, was now gone for good.

Tifa strode off toward where Loz had run earlier with Marlene, figuring the High Wind was that way. She didn't feel like talking too much after seeing Yazoo die.

The blonde man unwillingly let her go, as Sephiroth stopped him.

' It's best if you let her go Cloud... She will be fine. Soon we should head back, but I sense that you should remain here a short while longer...'

He accepted the ex-general's suggestion and took a seat on the ruined, dirt ground, the wind blowing his even messier blonde hair slightly.

" Cloud..."

He looked behind him, unsurprised to see Aeris there. What did surprise him were the three figures with her.

" Aeris..."

"It's over now... She's gone... The Calamity from the Skies is no more..." She looked at Cloud with a smile on her face, and quickly noticed his confusion as his gaze wandered to the three men behind her. "They are Cetra. Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz are the ones who just helped you out... It's funny how people can go from bitter enemies to having to save each others lives, huh?"

The blonde stared at Kadaj, and the silver haired man returned his gaze with his now gentle one. He could tell the young man was different now, and didn't feel any threat from him.

"I am sorry for what I have done... I was never meant to be that way..." The young man stated softly, bowing slightly at Cloud.

Yazoo and Loz also bowed at him, before the longer haired one strode off quietly toward the now running Tifa in the distance. His pace quickened, and he broke into a slight run himself.

" Yazoo!" Aeris called out. The man stopped and turned. "Not now... You'll have time soon enough..." She smiled sadly at him. He shot one last sad, yet warm glance toward the running woman, and came back toward them.

"We will have more time together soon enough Cloud... Right now, it's a little hectic in The Life Stream dealing with JENOVA, but it should be under control soon... Good bye for now Cloud..." She hugged him tightly, and surprised him by delivering a long, gentle kiss to his lips. Aeris stepped back from him with another sad smile. The four figures of his friends floated upward slightly, a white light engulfing them.

Cloud reached out for Aeris' extended hand, his now un-gloved fingers touching her ghostly ones. She smiled and so did he as she and the silver haired men disappeared. It saddened him slightly to see them go so soon, but he had a gut feeling he would see them... her... soon enough.

Averting his gaze to the now starry night sky, he smiled as he watched a shooting star sparkle and burn up. He bowed his head slightly for a moment and made a wish, lifting his gaze to see even more.

' A meteor shower... Quite beautiful isn't it?' Sephiroth interrupted his thoughts.

"It is... It truly is..."

The blonde man turned toward the general direction of the High Wind, and began striding off for his friends. His eyes never left the sky, as he watched not for the shooting stars, but for a glimpse of his angel, who he knew was still somewhere out there.

FIN

A/N: Well, sort of... And thus concludes my AU, totally off version of the unreleased movie Advent Children. A big thank you to all who have reviewed and do review in the future! :) Thanks for your support, I really needed it Hope you enjoyed this story, and it's conclusion... Well... Ok, chapter before conclusion. If you want, you COULD stick around for the epilogue to come...

Thanks again for the reviews and the support! I'm serious, this is the first story I've ever actually finished that was more than five chapters... --; Well, review as always!


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